Word order with "ever" ناشر الموضوع: Holger Laux
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Holger Laux 
المملكة المتحدة
Local time: 13:32
عضو (2011)
أنجليزي إلى ألماني
+ ...
Hi,
As part of a translation project, I have a bit of a problem with the English word order in a sentence.
Please have a look at these two variants:
"I learned more than I could ever have imagined."
"I learned more than I could have ever imagined."
Can you please tell me which one you consider correct?
I found references for both on the Internet, but without clear advice.
Many thanks.
| | | | Tom in London
المملكة المتحدة
Local time: 13:32
عضو (2008)
إيطالي إلى أنجليزي
| The first one | Nov 17, 2021 |
Holger Laux wrote:
Hi,
As part of a translation project, I have a bit of a problem with the English word order in a sentence.
Please have a look at these two variants:
"I learned more than I could ever have imagined."
"I learned more than I could have ever imagined."
Can you please tell me which one you consider correct?
I found references for both on the Internet, but without clear advice.
Many thanks.
"I learned more than I could ever have imagined" although there is an even better option:
"I learned more than I ever could have imagined."
[Edited at 2021-11-17 14:01 GMT]
| | | | | Take your pick | Nov 17, 2021 |
All three suggestions so far are OK.
"I learned more than I could ever have imagined" is the only one I would ever say.
"I learned more than I ever could have imagined" is something only ever posh people would say, or only posh people ever would say.
What a fab language we have.
| | | | Ali Sharifi
الولايات المتحدة
Local time: 08:32
أنجليزي إلى فارسي
+ ...
"I learned more than I could ever have imagined."
This one is correct.
The second one is a French way of saying the same thing.
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Holger Laux
المملكة المتحدة
Local time: 13:32
عضو (2011)
أنجليزي إلى ألماني
+ ...
بادئ الموضوع
Thank you so much for your interesting comments.
| | | | MollyRose
الولايات المتحدة
Local time: 07:32
أنجليزي إلى إسباني
+ ...
| to avoid splitting the verbs | Nov 17, 2021 |
"I learned more than I ever could have imagined."
This seems natural to me.
[Edited at 2021-11-18 21:49 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
المملكة المتحدة
Local time: 13:32
عضو (2008)
إيطالي إلى أنجليزي
Only people who are not posh ever use the word "posh".
| | | | MollyRose
الولايات المتحدة
Local time: 07:32
أنجليزي إلى إسباني
+ ...
| only because | Nov 18, 2021 |
[Edited at 2021-11-18 21:50 GMT]
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| may ways to skin the proverbial | Nov 18, 2021 |
I've learned more from these comments than I'd ever imagined possible.
| | | | | On posh speak, Roberta Flack and getting over myself | Nov 19, 2021 |
I ain’t posh, Tom, no, and happily so. But I think that word order, in the UK at least, says someone who is educated and careful about how they speak, and probably over a certain age. Maybe someone who avoids splitting infinitives and using “whose” for inanimate objects or “they” as a singular.
I must confess, I can never hear the otherwise beautiful Roberta Flack song “The first time ever I saw your face” without thinking it should be “The first time I ever saw your... See more I ain’t posh, Tom, no, and happily so. But I think that word order, in the UK at least, says someone who is educated and careful about how they speak, and probably over a certain age. Maybe someone who avoids splitting infinitives and using “whose” for inanimate objects or “they” as a singular.
I must confess, I can never hear the otherwise beautiful Roberta Flack song “The first time ever I saw your face” without thinking it should be “The first time I ever saw your face”.
And then, with my Plain English hat on, that it should really be “The first time I saw your face”.
A good example of why language should be something you feel rather than something you analyse! ▲ Collapse
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