When Mark told Lea he was going to

[Bassim]

Have I made any mistakes?

When Mark told Lea he was going to sell his flat and live in a caravan, she looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"How on earth can you do that?" she asked. "
"I like freedom more than anything else," Mark replied.

 

[Phaedrus]

When Mark told Lea he was going to sell his flat and live in a caravan, she looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"How on earth can you do that?" she asked. "
"I like freedom more than anything else," Mark replied.

Hello, Bassim:

I recommend changing "How on earth can you do that?" to "Why on earth would you do that?"

The first question doesn't express surprise and curiosity about his motivation. It expresses surprise and curiosity about his ability to do those things.

"How on earth can you do that?" she asked. "I thought you were in jail."

"They just let me out," Mark replied. "I don't want to go back to my old lifestyle."

 

[tedmc]

I like the freedom(of being able to live anywhere in a caravan) more than anything else

 

[Rover_KE]

I like the freedom[space](of being able to live anywhere in a caravan) more than anything else.

Leave a space before an opening bracket.

 

[Bassim]

My sentence does not need "the" at all. Freedom in my sentence does not only mean to live in a caravan but it is a universal feeling of being able to live how do you want and not feel constrained by a society. I don't understand why tedmc comes up with something that does not exist in my sentence.

 

[Bassim]

The freedom may be natural, but I feel that in this sentence it should be without "the." I vowed to ignore all posts by tedmc because they make my angry, nervous, and put me in bad mood. It's unbelievable that there are people who do not listen when you tell them you do not need their help.

 

[emsr2d2]

Bassim, the fact that you choose to disregard tedmc's input is not a reason for tedmc not to respond to your threads. Tedmc makes valuable contributions to this forum and other learners benefit from those contributions. You simply cannot tell another user to stop responding to your threads. Please use the "Ignore" facility if you do not wish to read tedmc's responses - that's what it's for.

(Thread reopened as there might be other responses to the original question.)

 

[Phaedrus]

My sentence does not need "the" at all. Freedom in my sentence does not only mean to live in a caravan but it is a universal feeling of being able to live how do you want and not feel constrained by a society.

I completely agree with you, Bassim. Initially I had "liked" tedmc's post, just to be polite, but I "unliked" it when I realized how awkward and unnatural the sentence became with that "the," which I think also does damage to the meaning of the sentence. Mark views selling his flat and living in a caravan as a celebration of freedom, his own and freedom in general. The suggestion that I came close to making for that sentence is to change "like" to "love":

"Why on earth would you do that?" she asked
"I love freedom more than anything else," Mark replied. [or: "I love freedom above all things."]

 

[Phaedrus]

I see nothing awkward or unnatural about:

When Mark told Lea he was going to sell his flat and live in a caravan, she looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"How on earth can you do that?" she asked. "
"I like the freedom more than anything else," Mark replied.

Regardless of your strange views on that particular "the," you ought to have changed "How on earth can you do that?" to "Why on earth would you do that?" The former question makes no sense here. It makes even less sense than the "the" that you want, which I continue to find awkward and unnatural.

 

[Phaedrus]

As you find my views strange, feel that a sentence I accept is awkward and unnatural, and that a question I accept makes no sense there is probably little point in my saying anything else.

No, there isn't. I'm not in the mood for a grammatical fight this morning anyway.

 

[Phaedrus]

. . . and that a question I accept makes no sense . . .

The question makes sense in itself. It doesn't make sense in that context. It makes sense in the facetious alternative context I gave.

 

[emsr2d2]

In my opinion, an argument can be made for both "How on earth can you do that?" and "Why on earth would you do that?", as well as for "freedom" and "the freedom".

For me, "How on earth can you do that?" refers to living in a caravan. Perhaps she thinks he has too many belongings, or that it's not secure, or that he might get blown away in a strong wind. "Why on earth would you do that?" refers to the entire situation, expressing her incredulity that anyone would swap a flat for a caravan.

"I like freedom more than anything else" means that freedom is more important to him than anything else in the world. "I like the freedom more than anything else" means that it is the freedom of living in a caravan, rather than any other aspect of living in a caravan, that appeals to him. He might like other things more than the freedom of living in a caravan but, when referring only to the benefits of living in a caravan, the freedom aspect of it is the part he likes the most.

 

[Phaedrus]

In my opinion, an argument can be made for both "How on earth can you do that?" and "Why on earth would you do that?", as well as for "freedom" and "the freedom".

For me, "How on earth can you do that?" refers to living in a caravan. Perhaps she thinks he has too many belongings, or that it's not secure, or that he might get blown away in a strong wind. "Why on earth would you do that?" refers to the entire situation, expressing her incredulity that anyone would swap a flat for a caravan.

"I like freedom more than anything else" means that freedom is more important to him than anything else in the word. "I like the freedom more than anything else" means that it is the freedom of living in a caravan, rather than any other aspect of living in a caravan, that appeals to him. He might like other things more than the freedom of living in a caravan but, when referring only to the benefits of living in a caravan, the freedom aspect of it is the part he likes the most.

That is very helpful, emsr2d2, and wonderfully written. Everything, it seems, comes down to the interpretation of "do that."

When Mark told Lea he was going to sell his flat and live in a caravan, she looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"Why on earth would you do that [= sell your flat and live in a caravan]?" she asked.
"I like freedom more than anything else," Mark replied.

When Mark told Lea he was going to sell his flat and live in a caravan, she looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"How on earth can you do that [= live in a caravan]?" she asked.
"I like the freedom more than anything else," Mark replied.

In the second version, I'd probably use "the freedom it affords (or will afford) me" rather than just "the freedom"; however, I am comfortable with just "the freedom," as well as "How on earth can you do that?", on that interpretation of "do that."

 

[Phaedrus]

It seems that my views aren't so strange, or the sentences I found acceptable so awkward, unnatural, and devoid of sense.

Let's not blow things out of proportion: I wasn't talking about your views in general. It hadn't occurred to me, until I read emsr2d2's post (#15), that there might be ambiguity here with "do that." I had assumed that anyone would interpret "do that" as meaning "sell your flat and live in a caravan."

Grammatically speaking, I'd assumed that anyone would interpret "do that" as referring to the complement of "was going to" (a conjunction of two verb phrases), not merely to the second conjunct of its complement ("live in a caravan").

The possibility seems to arise because of the end focus of that conjunct. Surely no one would hear "do that" as meaning only "sell your flat" (i.e., as referring to the first VP conjunct only). We can test it, though. If the following dialogues work, we will be forced to say that there is triple ambiguity in Bassim's "do that."

When Mark told Lea he was going to sell his flat and live in a caravan, she looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"How on earth can you do that [= sell your flat]?" she asked.
"It's easy," Mark replied. "All you have to do is put an ad in the newspaper."

or

When Mark told Lea he was going to sell his flat and live in a caravan, she looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"Why on earth would you do that [= sell your flat]?" she asked.
"I won't be able to buy a caravan unless I sell my flat," Mark replied.

 

[Phaedrus]

Regardless of what Lea intended to refer to, Mark may interpret the words to refer to any one of those three things - and respond accordingly.

I suppose that if Mark were a robot he would have to be programmed to respond "How on earth can I do what?" or "Why on earth would I do what?" in such a case.

 

[Tdol]

Let's not blow things out of proportion

Yes, please- things were getting snippy.