Hi there,
Is it correct to say:
John talked with Mary on the phone
Mary: What are you doing now?
John: I am going to swim with Peter now.
tks
simon
Yes, although I would say '
talked to Mary' - mere personal preference.
John is not answering Mary's question exactly, but in telling her what he is on the point of doing, he is delivering an effective response.
If we get in to the area of
implicatures, your telephone dialogue can be interpreted as:
Mary: Are you free now?
John: No.
Another personal preference; I would probably answer the question in one of these ways:
I am just going to go swimming ..
I am about to go swimming ..
I am just off swimming ..
When speaking of the leisure activity, it is more
usual to
go swimming thanto
swim. Note that I wrote
more usual, not
more correct.