Re: Verb specificity (Was: Re: Natural Order of Events)

2009/1/29 Paul Kershaw <ptkershaw@...>

> ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets <tsela.cg@...>
> > Well, this sentence would more likely mean that the person is driving.
> > Somebody who would be driven to work would more likely say "Aujourd'hui
> on
> > m'emmène au travail en voiture": today someone's taking me to work by
> car,
> > or "Aujourd'hui on me conduit au travail": today someone is driving me to
> > work.
>
> A bit of my background: I took French in high school and German in college,
> then set both aside for about a decade before taking them back up in
> self-study, mostly in the form of reading as much as possible. What struck
> me when I returned to both languages was how little emphasis was placed in
> my classes on the use of "on" (French) and "man" (German). I realize they
> lead to their own ambiguities (in contrast to English "you," which confuses
> us plenty :D ), but still, I think they're a more reasonable approach than
> English's.
>
> -- Paul
>
Dutch has "men" for the same meaning. Of course, French does its thing
differently, as always, since it uses "on" not only for an indefinite
subject, but also as an exclusive alternative in the spoken language to the
written "nous", the first person plural. However, it normally never leads to
ambiguities, as it is used exclusively in the spoken language where context
always makes it clear what is meant.
-- 
Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets.

http://christophoronomicon.blogspot.com/
http://www.christophoronomicon.nl/