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Nobuko Y
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:29 pm
Post subject: I don't feel like... and I feel like I don't ... |
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I hope anyone out there can help me with this question.
What's the difference between these two sentences?
I feel like I don't have a worry in the world.
I don't feel like I have a worry in the world.
The situation is like this; when a man is taking a hot bath in a hot
spring.
He feels so good that he says this.
I know the first sentence sounds natural but if it is changed to
the second one, does the meaning change?
Thank you in advance
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Don Phillipson
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:21 pm
Post subject: Re: I don't feel like... and I feel like I don't ... |
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"Nobuko Y" <nobuko-y@mxg.mesh.ne.jp> wrote in message
news:dgmi09$8gd$1@bgsv5648.tk.mesh.ad.jp...
| Quote: | I hope anyone out there can help me with this question.
What's the difference between these two sentences?
I feel like I don't have a worry in the world.
I don't feel like I have a worry in the world.
The situation is like this; when a man is taking a hot bath in a hot
spring.
He feels so good that he says this.
I know the first sentence sounds natural but if it is changed to
the second one, does the meaning change?
|
1. The meaning is the same in both formulations.
1b. Both are also grammatically faulty, viz. use
"like" as a subordinating conjunction.
2. The most common English idiom does not use
worry (singular) in this form (except in Australia)
but care instead, as in:
3. Why not write: "I don't have a care in the world."
Feel seems redundant (although people do indeed
speak this way.)
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada) |
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John Dean
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 10:02 pm
Post subject: Re: I don't feel like... and I feel like I don't ... |
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Nobuko Y wrote:
| Quote: | I hope anyone out there can help me with this question.
What's the difference between these two sentences?
I feel like I don't have a worry in the world.
I don't feel like I have a worry in the world.
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Although the speaker is describing essentially the same state in both
cases, the first one sounds optimistic to me; the second is more
pessimistic.
--
John Dean
Oxford
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Weatherlawyer
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 5:24 am
Post subject: Re: I don't feel like... and I feel like I don't ... |
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Nobuko Y wrote:
| Quote: | I hope someone out there can help me with this question.
What's the difference between these two sentences?
I feel like I don't have a worry in the world.
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States the quantity of the freedom form worry.
| Quote: | I don't feel like I have a worry in the world.
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In this second either the last three words are redundant or the the
word "a" might be changed to the word "one" to give it that same force
as the first. |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:54 am
Post subject: Re: I don't feel like... and I feel like I don't ... |
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Weatherlawyer wrote:
| Quote: |
Nobuko Y wrote:
I hope someone out there can help me with this question.
What's the difference between these two sentences?
I feel like I don't have a worry in the world.
States the quantity of the freedom form worry.
I don't feel like I have a worry in the world.
In this second either the last three words are redundant or the the
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speaking of redundancy ...
| Quote: | word "a" might be changed to the word "one" to give it that same force
as the first.
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Except that "not a worry in the world" is a set phrase. Okay, some
might call it a cliche. But if you're going to use it, use it as is;
variations sound strained. Fowler pointed this out almost a century
ago.
To my ear the second choice doesn't sound as good as the first.
As for "feel like," it's reached the point in some dialets where it's
the equivalent of a single word. See
<http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001072.html> and
<http://www.nascar.com/2003/news/features/conversation/08/25/sriggs_convo/>
(search for "feel like that").
--
Bob Lieblich
I feel like that we've discussed this enough |
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Weatherlawyer
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:35 pm
Post subject: Re: I don't feel like... and I feel like I don't ... |
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Robert Lieblich wrote:
| Quote: | word "a" might be changed to the word "one" to give it that same force
as the first.
Except that "not a worry in the world" is a set phrase. Okay, some
might call it a cliche. But if you're going to use it, use it as is;
variations sound strained.
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But the OP was using it as a variation of the cliche. |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:17 pm
Post subject: Re: I don't feel like... and I feel like I don't ... |
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Weatherlawyer wrote:
| Quote: |
Robert Lieblich wrote:
word "a" might be changed to the word "one" to give it that same force
as the first.
Except that "not a worry in the world" is a set phrase. Okay, some
might call it a cliche. But if you're going to use it, use it as is;
variations sound strained.
But the OP was using it as a variation of the cliche.
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He was varying the part of the sentence that wasn't a cliche. You
were varying the cliche part. Go back and check for yourself. |
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