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Are comparisons necessary with certain words?This is the place for questions about conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax and other grammar questions for English or Spanish. |
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#1
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Are comparisons necessary with certain words?
Still working in my workbook here. In this exercise, there is a list of sentences that describe the "ideal pet". I don't have any questions about the meanings of the sentences or the answers to the exercises.
But there are two sentences that seem strange to me: - Más vale que no muerda las patas de los muebles. - Es mejor que no pelee con los perros y gatos de los vecinos. Now, each of these sentences "stands alone", with no context other than what I've given you (descriptions of the ideal pet). My question: if both sentences carry the sense that "it is better that....", doesn't there need to be something else that "it is better" than? Does my question make sense?
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
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#2
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Quote:
There are other examples, for instance menos mal just as well; menos mal que no me oyó just as well o good thing o thank goodness he didn't hear me; Here it is a comparative, being compared with an unspoken '.. than he did hear me' Does that help? Edit: not very well explained. What I mean is that if you say X is better than Y, then the comparison has to be expressed. But you can say X is better than NOT X, in which case the second half is understood. Last edited by Perikles; August 27, 2010 at 06:33 AM. |
#3
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It helped before you added the mathematical functions, but those more analytical explanations are always more than welcome!! Makes lots of sense, thanks, sir!
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
#4
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You're welcome. I've been thinking that it also happens in English, when you say things like "It's raining, I had better put a coat on." i.e. better than not putting a coat on.
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#5
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You are SO right! I never thought of the fact that we use the word "better" or "best" like that (I could just as easily say "I'd best bring an umbrella..."). ¡Qué bárbaro!
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
#6
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[Nothing to add here, but I couldn't resist to add that I love when you say "¡Qué bárbaro!"... it is so genuinely Argentinian!] (It is also used in Spain... but somehow it reminds me very much of my Argentinean friends, as they definitely used the expression.)
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Lo propio de la verdad es que se basta a sí misma, aquel que la posee no intenta convencer a nadie. "An enemy is somebody who flatters you. A friend is somebody who criticizes the living daylights out of you." Last edited by JPablo; August 27, 2010 at 04:55 PM. |
#7
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I guess it has to be "best" to need something to be "better than"...
"Better than not" - neat take.
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"Be brief, for no discourse can please when too long." miguel de cervantes saavedra |
#8
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I believe that "bárbaro" is a Rioplatense thing because my Uruguayan friends in Montevideo also say it.......... Glad you enjoy hearing it. The other thing that they said ALL the time in Argentina was "Qué horrible!" I don't really like that, because to them EVERYTHING was "horrible", but I am not one to over-exaggerate mildly bad things because then what do you way when something is truly "horrible"??
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
#9
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But look the examples you have in the colloquial usage (the one you heared)
horrible. (Del lat. horribĭlis). 1. adj. Que causa horror. 2. adj. coloq. Muy feo. 3. adj. coloq. Muy intenso o acentuado. Nos dio un susto horrible. 4. adj. coloq. Muy malo, pésimo. Nos dieron un café horrible. I don't know how to measure things from Horrible to Gorgeous..., a coffe without sugar, is horrible, an a murder scene maybe is horrible too. There you aren't saying that the importance is the same for you, but the effect is alike. In sumary, we use "horrible" as "feo". "¡Qué día horrible!" / "¡Qué día feo!" (but with people is better to use "feo")
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Please, don't hesitate to correct my English. 'Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.' M.A.
Last edited by ookami; August 27, 2010 at 05:45 PM. |
#10
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Okay, Ookami, I'll give you the "muy feo" one (y'all say THAT a lot, too!) ... but you know exactly the TONE of voice I'm talking about ... ¡Qué horrible!
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- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias! |
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