| Author |
Message |
cyberdude
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:02 pm
Post subject: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
David
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CyberCypher
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:02 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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cyberdude wrote on 23 Nov 2004:
| Quote: | Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
|
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful and
generous you are!"
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet. |
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Django Cat
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:03 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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On 23 Nov 2004 13:23:26 GMT, CyberCypher
<cybercypher@19-16-25-13-01-03.com> wrote:
| Quote: | cyberdude wrote on 23 Nov 2004:
Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful and
generous you are!"
|
Are you two related?
DC
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CyberCypher
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:04 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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Django Cat wrote on 23 Nov 2004:
| Quote: | On 23 Nov 2004 13:23:26 GMT, CyberCypher
cybercypher@19-16-25-13-01-03.com> wrote:
cyberdude wrote on 23 Nov 2004:
Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful and
generous you are!"
Are you two related?
|
In name only, thank you.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet. |
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| Back to top |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 6:04 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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CyberCypher wrote:
| Quote: | Django Cat wrote on 23 Nov 2004:
On 23 Nov 2004 13:23:26 GMT, CyberCypher
cybercypher@19-16-25-13-01-03.com> wrote:
cyberdude wrote on 23 Nov 2004:
Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch
for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful
and
generous you are!"
Are you two related?
In name only, thank you.
|
But I'm nonetheless sure you're a real cool dude.
Mike. |
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cyberdude
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 12:04 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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| Quote: | Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful and
generous you are!"
|
Could you tell me why my original sentence is not proper?
David |
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CyberCypher
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 6:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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cyberdude wrote on 24 Nov 2004:
| Quote: | Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch
for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful
and
generous you are!"
Could you tell me why my original sentence is not proper?
|
Wrong verb ("care") and preposition ("for") in this circumstance, but
one could say "How nice that you care about the needs of others", but
that's not idiomatic AmE.
To care for someone means either to like/love someone or to tend to
the needs of someone, usually someone who is partially or totally
unable to take care of his or her own needs. In your example, your
classmate was just being thoughtful and generous. And because it was
only one other, "others" is inappropriate here.
Wrong aspect. Being thoughtful or generous or kind or caring in the
way you describe your classmate is usually not a temporary thing and
doesn't rate the present progressive. It is normally a habit, a state
of mind, an ingrained attitude that one always expresses, so the
simple present is appropriate.
Idiomaticity. It's just not what a native speaker of English would
say in any such circumstance I can think of. There's nothing
grammatically wrong with it, but it just isn't normal English in that
context. A normal anglophone would consider your classmate's act
"thoughtful", because he thought of someone other than himself, and
generous, because he gave without being asked and without asking
anything in return.
I hope that answers your question. If not, maybe someone else here
can add to or amend what I have just written.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet. |
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Alan Jones
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2004 6:07 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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"CyberCypher" <cybercypher@19-16-25-13-01-03.com> wrote in message
news:Xns95ABCEA76CF20cctxt2002@130.133.1.4...
| Quote: | cyberdude wrote on 24 Nov 2004:
Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch
for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful
and
generous you are!"
Could you tell me why my original sentence is not proper?
Wrong verb ("care") and preposition ("for") in this circumstance, but
one could say "How nice that you care about the needs of others", but
that's not idiomatic AmE.
To care for someone means either to like/love someone or to tend to
the needs of someone, usually someone who is partially or totally
unable to take care of his or her own needs. In your example, your
classmate was just being thoughtful and generous. And because it was
only one other, "others" is inappropriate here.
Wrong aspect. Being thoughtful or generous or kind or caring in the
way you describe your classmate is usually not a temporary thing and
doesn't rate the present progressive. It is normally a habit, a state
of mind, an ingrained attitude that one always expresses, so the
simple present is appropriate.
Idiomaticity. It's just not what a native speaker of English would
say in any such circumstance I can think of. There's nothing
grammatically wrong with it, but it just isn't normal English in that
context. A normal anglophone would consider your classmate's act
"thoughtful", because he thought of someone other than himself, and
generous, because he gave without being asked and without asking
anything in return.
I hope that answers your question. If not, maybe someone else here
can add to or amend what I have just written.
|
That all seems appropriate for BrE, too. The questioner's "care for" is
simply a wrong choice of wording for the situation he describes.
I don't know about American social manners, but a British colleague probably
wouldn't be as effusive as this: the limit might be "Very kind of you" from
the person being treated, and no comment from anyone else. Explicit praise,
I think, would be reserved for a child who was beginning to show
consideration for others.
Alan Jones |
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cyberdude
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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| Quote: | Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch for
himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for the
others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful and
generous you are!"
Are you two related?
|
The only way we are related is that we often go to this news group, I
am afraid. But I am certain CyberCypher's English is much much better
than mine.
David |
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CyberCypher
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 6:04 am
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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cyberdude wrote on 25 Nov 2004:
| Quote: | Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch
for himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for
the others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful
and generous you are!"
Are you two related?
The only way we are related is that we often go to this news
group, I am afraid. But I am certain CyberCypher's English is
much much better than mine.
|
It ought to be. I'm an educated native speaker of English, Your
English is very good, but I suspect that you are a native speaker of
Chinese, not English.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet. |
|
| Back to top |
|
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cyberdude
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 6:09 pm
Post subject: Re: Can I say "you are caring for the others"? |
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| Quote: | Hi,
I have a classmate who is very nice. Today, he brought lunch
for himeself and also one of us. Then, I praised him:
You are caring for the others.
Can I say the above to mean that he is nice to and care for
the others?
No. Your praise should have been something like "How thoughtful
and generous you are!"
Are you two related?
The only way we are related is that we often go to this news
group, I am afraid. But I am certain CyberCypher's English is
much much better than mine.
It ought to be. I'm an educated native speaker of English, Your
English is very good, but I suspect that you are a native speaker of
Chinese, not English.
|
Yes, you are right that I am not a native speaker of English.
Precisely speaking, I am a native speaker of Cantonese, a dialect in
the Cantone province in China.
David |
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