[Vocabulary] Double meaning: I search for you.

[antonius.]

Dear Forum

I search for you
has two meanings:
1) My search is to your benefit.
2) My search has the aim to find you.

I am looking for a rephrasing, which excludes the second meaning. Since I need it in the translation of a poem, I hope, there is a more elegant solution than the proposed one.

Any ideas?

Sincerely

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Dear Forum

I search for you
has two meanings:
1) My search is to your benefit.
2) My search has the aim of finding you.

I am looking for [STRIKE]a re[/STRIKE]phrasing[STRIKE],[/STRIKE] that excludes the second meaning. Since I need it in the translation of a poem, I hope[STRIKE],[/STRIKE] there is a more elegant solution than the proposed one.

Any ideas?

[STRIKE]Sincerely[/STRIKE]

I wouldn't change it. The meaning should be perfectly clear from the context.

 

[tedmc]

What about "I do the search for you"?

 

[5jj]

I search for you

I find neither that (with either meaning) nor ted's I do the search for you particularly natural. In what context do you wish to use the unmarked/present simple tense?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I find neither that (with either meaning) nor ted's I do the search for you particularly natural. In what context do you wish to use the unmarked/present simple tense?

Since it's not a full sentence (there's no full stop), I assumed it was a fragment, as in:

- I search for you in the headlines every day.

- I search for you whenever I'm in Stockholm.

- When you're not at your desk, I search for you.​

But it can be a complete sentence, too, in a narrow range of unlikely contexts:

- Me: What do you do when I don't come straight home from school?

- You: I search for you.​

Antonius, we ask students to provide complete sentences to reduce confusion.