My aunt made a cake by herself in the kitchen yesterday

dido4

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Dec 23, 2005
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Student or Learner
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Chinese
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a. Which order is correct?
b. How can we arrange the order with grammar usage?

1. My aunt made a cake by herself in the kitchen yesterday.
2. My aunt made a cake in the kitchen by herself yesterday.

Thank you.
 
a. Which order is correct?
b. How can we arrange the order with grammar usage?

1. My aunt made a cake by herself in the kitchen yesterday.
2. My aunt made a cake in the kitchen by herself yesterday.

[........]

They are both okay. (I don't understand the second question.)
 
They work either way. It doesn't matter. I'm not sure where she would make a cake other than in the kitchen, so it seems like unnecessary information.
 
If somebody told me they had baked a cake I wouldn't assume they had help. However, I would assume that they did it it in the kitchen.
 
a. Which order is correct?
b. How can we arrange the order with grammar usage?

1. My aunt made a cake by herself in the kitchen yesterday.
2. My aunt made a cake in the kitchen by herself yesterday.

Thank you.
The correct order, considering natural English syntax and emphasis, is:

  1. My aunt made a cake in the kitchen by herself yesterday.
This arrangement places the location ("in the kitchen") immediately after the verb phrase, followed by the manner ("by herself"), and finally the time ("yesterday"). This sequence flows naturally and adheres to common English sentence structure conventions.
 
The correct order, considering natural English syntax and emphasis, is:

  1. My aunt made a cake in the kitchen by herself yesterday.
Other orders are not incorrect.
 
In American English we would almost always say:

My aunt baked a cake yesterday.

There is absolutely no need to mention that it happened in the kitchen. Where else would you bake a cake?
 
I baked a cake by myself in the middle of the oven.
 
Last edited:
I baked a cake by myself in the middle of the oven.
1- If it's necessary to highlight that no one helped with the baking of the cake, then consider using "all by myself".
2- "in the middle of the oven" suggests that you were actually (sitting/standing) in the middle of the oven!:oops:
3- You omitted some detail (yesterday).
 

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