View Single Post
  #15  
Old May 09, 2008, 01:16 AM
gatitoverde's Avatar
gatitoverde gatitoverde is offline
Pearl
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Carolina del Norte, EEUU
Posts: 152
Native Language: Inglés estadounidense
gatitoverde will become famous soon enough
To continue

Now that I've thought about the wolves and mice, I have to say that the following simple statements seem a little unnatural to me:

- You can see as many wolves as mice.
- You see as many wolves as mice.

Not to say that I haven't said things in that manner, but I was being poetic, or fancy, or something other than natural. I think it would be more natural to repeat the initial verb in the second half of the sentence. I think you would say:

- You can see as many wolves as you can mice

I'm reminded of the need in Spanish to sometimes repeat "de" before subsequent nouns. Were the verb "to be able" (can) not used, one would fall back on "to do":

- You see as many wolves as you do mice.

Strangely, repeating a form of the verb "to see" would not work as well as "to do." And after writing all this, I'm reminded of just how complicated languages really are. Good luck.
Reply With Quote