NAL123
Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2020
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Hindi
- Home Country
- India
- Current Location
- India
Consider these sentences, please:
1) He spent time lying down doing very little.
2) Tim spends his weekends messing around in the garage repairing things.
Q1: Do they respectively mean:
a) He spent time [lying down] and [doing very little]. (=He spent time doing two things)
b) Tim spends his weekends [messing around in the garage] and [repairing things]. (=Tim spends his weekends doing two things)
Or
Do they mean (Two sentences with different main verbs combined together):
c) He spent time [lying down doing very little]. (= He spent time lying down. He lay down doing very little)
d) Tim spends his weekends [messing around in the garage repairing things]. (= Tim spends his weekends messing around in the garage. He messes around in the garage repairing things)
Note: I've already asked this question here: (https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/he-spent-time-lying-down-and-doing-very-little.3782851/), and the teachers seem to have different opinions about these sentences. One seems to prefer (a) and (b), while the other, (c) and (d). I would just like to know your view.
Q2: In the same link given above, one of the teachers (in post #6) wrote this sentence:
To me, yes: the "repairing things" amplifies what the "messing around" consists of: they're not two separate things which is what using "and" would imply.
Clearly, the underlined portion is a relative clause with the relative pronoun "which". What does this pronoun refer to in the previous clause? Does it mean "using "and" would imply they are two separate things", or does it mean "using "and" would imply they are not two separate things"?
1) He spent time lying down doing very little.
2) Tim spends his weekends messing around in the garage repairing things.
Q1: Do they respectively mean:
a) He spent time [lying down] and [doing very little]. (=He spent time doing two things)
b) Tim spends his weekends [messing around in the garage] and [repairing things]. (=Tim spends his weekends doing two things)
Or
Do they mean (Two sentences with different main verbs combined together):
c) He spent time [lying down doing very little]. (= He spent time lying down. He lay down doing very little)
d) Tim spends his weekends [messing around in the garage repairing things]. (= Tim spends his weekends messing around in the garage. He messes around in the garage repairing things)
Note: I've already asked this question here: (https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/he-spent-time-lying-down-and-doing-very-little.3782851/), and the teachers seem to have different opinions about these sentences. One seems to prefer (a) and (b), while the other, (c) and (d). I would just like to know your view.
Q2: In the same link given above, one of the teachers (in post #6) wrote this sentence:
To me, yes: the "repairing things" amplifies what the "messing around" consists of: they're not two separate things which is what using "and" would imply.
Clearly, the underlined portion is a relative clause with the relative pronoun "which". What does this pronoun refer to in the previous clause? Does it mean "using "and" would imply they are two separate things", or does it mean "using "and" would imply they are not two separate things"?