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is this sentence grammatical?
Hello everybody,
I'd like to know whether the sentence below is grammatical.
I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it
Thank you in advance
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Re: is this sentence grammatical?
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Re: is this sentence grammatical?

Originally Posted by
Anglika
It's fine.
Actually it's a quotation by an American comedian, thus it would have been pretty weird if it was ungrammatical.
Anyway, it doesn't sound good to my ears. What's does the last it refer to?
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Re: is this sentence grammatical?
The "perfectly wonderful evening" - which is not the evening on which he is speaking.
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Re: is this sentence grammatical?

Originally Posted by
Anglika
The "perfectly wonderful evening" - which is not the evening on which he is speaking.
Ok. I was just a bit counfused because I I heard this sentence from a friend of mine who doesn't speak English very well and it seemed he meant to say something else, but when I found out it was a quotation I realized that I was wrong. Anyway, thank you very much.
I just have one more question. Wouldn't simple past be more appropriate? Is present perfect used just to lead people to think he is referring to the evening of the day on which he pronounced the sentence and make a play on words since he soon states the contrary?
Last edited by Englishlanguage; 31-Jan-2008 at 11:59.
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Re: is this sentence grammatical?
That's it exactly!
He will get his laugh with the juxtaposition of "have had a perfectly wonderful evening" [then probably a slight pause] and "this was not it".
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Re: is this sentence grammatical?

Originally Posted by
Anglika
That's it exactly!
He will get his laugh with the juxtaposition of "have had a perfectly wonderful evening" [then probably a slight pause] and "this was not it".
Thank you Anglika...
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