Spoken sentences

[vvaann]

I heard these sentences from movies. I wonder I heard them correctly.

"He at a time used an alias known as the Godfather"
"Corleone is a term used by friends on the affection, on the respect"

Are they correct in grammar?
Thank you,

Originally Posted by vvaann

"He at a time used an alias known as the Godfather"
"Corlerone is a term used by friends on the affection, on the respect"

The first sentence is stretching grammar a little but I’d say it’s still grammatical. However, I would express it as follows:

     At one time, he used the alias the Godfather. (Note: no need for “known as”)

The second one is the one that doesn’t look right to me. I think it should be:

     Corlerone is used by friends as a term of affection and of respect.

()

[vvaann]

Thanks for your comment.
What makes me wonder about these sentences is whether "at a time" and "on the affection, on the respect" are ever used. Do native speakers say so?
Thanks,

“At a time” is used in such phrases as “one at a time”, “two at a time”, etc, but in your quoted example, it means “at one time”.

I have never heard of the phrases “on the affection” and “on the respect” before.

(:?)

[Tdol]

If you put commas in, it sounds better to me:
He, at a time, used an alias known as the Godfather

Originally Posted by tdol

He, at a time, used an alias known as the Godfather

I’d say “… used the alias the Godfather” – “an alias known as the Godfather” means that it is the alias, not the person, that is called the Godfather.

(:?)

[Tdol]

Good point- I was thinking about the 'at a time' and neglected the rest of the sentence. Sorry. 8)