Fruit 'n' Bran

[NewHope]

I guess "Fruit 'n' Bran" refers to a brand of soem food can
. When opnning the can, a jingle would hear.
Right?

And why using "amble", not "ambled"? I think when "watch" is in front of a verb, the verb should keep its bare form, like "is" should be "be".
Right?

Context:
Harry listened to a jingle about Fruit 'n' Bran breakfast cereal while he watched Mrs.Figg, a batty cat-loving old lady from nearby Wisteria Walk, amble slow past.

[Tdol]

I'd imagine he had the TV or radio on to hear the jingle. Fruit'n'Bran comes in a packet. It's 'amble' because watch + bare infinitive is used when the watcher sees the whole action.

Originally Posted by NewHope

I guess "Fruit 'n' Bran" refers to a brand of soem food can
. When opnning the can, a jingle would hear.
Right?

And why using "amble", not "ambled"? I think when "watch" is in front of a verb, the verb should keep its bare form, like "is" should be "be".
Right?

Context:
Harry listened to a jingle about Fruit 'n' Bran breakfast cereal while he watched Mrs.Figg, a batty cat-loving old lady from nearby Wisteria Walk, amble slow past.

Fruit'n Bran is a Kellogg's cereal we eat for breakfast.
The sentence you have posted up I read as:

Harry listened to an advertising slogan ("jingle" can also mean some catchy phrase used in commercials hundreds of times...this is the way commercials work - they are repetative and boring :mad: ) while he watched Mrs.Figg...amble (=walk leisurely).

he watched somebody do sth = always infinitive in that combination.
other verbs using the same principle are "see" and "hear".

hope it helps.

shouldn't the last part of that sentence be "... as she ambled slowLY past" ?

In any case I think it's redundant to include amble & slow(ly).

am·ble
intr.v. am·bled, am·bling, am·bles
To walk slowly or leisurely; stroll.

Amble already connotes slow walking. Saying someone is ambling slowly is akin to saying someone is muttering quietly or shouting loudly.

I hope I didn't take this post out of context, I am new here. :(

-Nah-

Originally Posted by Nahualli

shouldn't the last part of that sentence be "... as she ambled slowLY past" ?

In any case I think it's redundant to include amble & slow(ly).

am·ble
intr.v. am·bled, am·bling, am·bles
To walk slowly or leisurely; stroll.

Amble already connotes slow walking. Saying someone is ambling slowly is akin to saying someone is muttering quietly or shouting loudly.

I hope I didn't take this post out of context, I am new here. :(

-Nah-

" to amble" means to walk leisurely and you can amble fast or slow a or anything in between.
Personally, "slow" sounds good to me in this context.

Originally Posted by Natalie27

" to amble" means to walk leisurely and you can amble fast or slow a or anything in between.
Personally, "slow" sounds good to me in this context.

I really don't mean to belabor the point but I pulled the definiton for amble from the dictionary. You can't amble quickly, since the word describes a slow/leisurely stroll. I agree that the adverb modifying "amble" may have a definite place there. It was only my perception that it was redundant, it certainly doesn't make the sentence untrue to its meaning by leaving slow in there.

However, the redundancy of slow in the sentence wasn't the real issue here. Slow in this case, if left in, is an adverb and must therefore change form. You can't "walk slow". That's incorrect. You must walk slowly.

-Nah-

Originally Posted by Nahualli

I really don't mean to belabor the point but I pulled the definiton for amble from the dictionary. You can't amble quickly, since the word describes a slow/leisurely stroll. I agree that the adverb modifying "amble" may have a definite place there. It was only my perception that it was redundant, it certainly doesn't make the sentence untrue to its meaning by leaving slow in there.

However, the redundancy of slow in the sentence wasn't the real issue here. Slow in this case, if left in, is an adverb and must therefore change form. You can't "walk slow". That's incorrect. You must walk slowly.

-Nah-

why ask if you know the answer?

You can answer a question by posing a second question. A direct statement isn't the only way to do it. :)

-Nah-

Originally Posted by Nahualli

You can answer a question by posing a second question. A direct statement isn't the only way to do it. :)

-Nah-

I see. Well, I will stick to an easier approach myself.

[NewHope]

Thank you all.

I think Fruit 'n' Bran = Fruit and Bran.
Right?