[Grammar] Using the word unconscious in sentences for specific situations

[Arman Syed]

Hello,


I have a query regarding the usage of the word unconscious in two specific situations.


If person A says "You are unconscious" to person B, it can only mean that person B is not in a passed out state but did something without realising. Here the meaning of the word "unconscious" should be taken as "absent minded".
But if translating "You are unconscious" to Bengali language in Google Translate, the meaning implies that person B is out cold.
How can person A tell person B that "You are unconscious" when person B is unconscious (passed out) and cannot hear what person A says. The sentence in this case should be "You were unconscious" as it implies that person B has just woken up from the unconscious or out cold state and person A is informing person B about his/her passed out state moments ago.

 

[teechar]

Hello Arman, and welcome to the forum.
Your thread is confusing.

"You are unconscious" is very odd. I can only possibly imagine it being said, e.g., by a hypnotist!

"You were unconscious", on the other hand, is quite natural.

Does that help?

 

[Tdol]

If you do something without realising, you do it unconsciously. You are unconscious would not fit in this context for me.

 

[Arman Syed]

Hello Teecher,

thanks for the welcome and sorry for the confusion created.

You have exactly answered the way I was thinking. Only in the case of an hypnotist would the sentence fit in perfectly other than that no one should use it to explain anything else. I am also confused to see this sentence being used to give an erroneous meaning in one of the top online search engines.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Arman Syed]

Hello Tdol,

could you please explain this sentence by adding some more words or a sentence with it, because it seems quite odd and incomplete to me.

 

[jutfrank]

I am also confused to see this sentence being used to give an erroneous meaning in one of the top online search engines.

What do you mean? Where exactly did you see/hear this sentence being used naturally?

 

[Arman Syed]

Hello jutfrank. Its the Google Crowdsource team representing Bangladesh who came to our International Study Center in Dhaka with their representative to inform us about their campaign which is to "Enrich the Bengali language" through Google apps. In one of their presentation slides they used the Google Translate in their Google Crowdsource app to translate this sentence "You are unconscious" which gave four options with meanings. 2 of them were correct and two of them were wrong. One of the correct options means that "You are knocked out" and I objected to that. And the reason for that objection I have already explained above. Google is translating in Bengali language inappropriately and this crowdsource team wants to make it error free. But they are publicising the wrong meaning to this very sentence.

 

[Tdol]

Hello Tdol,

could you please explain this sentence by adding some more words or a sentence with it, because it seems quite odd and incomplete to me.

Sorry- I missed out an essential word ("not") so I gave an answer that was the opposite of the intended one.

 

[Arman Syed]

Hello again Tdol. Its alright . Thanks for clarifying me.

[WOW! I have just corrected an English Teacher who happens to be a British by birth :-D]

 

[GoesStation]

But if translating "You are unconscious" to Bengali language in Google Translate, the meaning implies that person B is out cold.

That would be a correct translation.

Don't expect human-level quality from Google Translate. It does remarkably well at translating between some languages, but only rarely achieves a completely natural result in more than a few sentences at a time.

 

[Arman Syed]

Not a teacher.

Hello GoesStation, I completely agree that machines are dumb and yet to achieve human-level accuracy. My only reprimand with this sentence is that it cant be used naturally.

 

[emsr2d2]

Not a teacher.

Hello GoesStation. I completely agree that machines are dumb and yet to achieve human-level accuracy. My only [STRIKE]reprimand[/STRIKE] problem with this sentence is that it can't be used naturally.

Note my corrections above. Please remember to put "Not a teacher" when writing a post designed to help another learner. I added it for you in post #11.

 

[Arman Syed]

Not a teacher

Hello emsr2d2,

thanks for correcting me. I used the word "reprimand" to mean my disapproval with the sentence. Maybe its not usual to use it that way. And also because "I AM A NOT A TEACHER :-D".

 

[teechar]

Thanks for correcting me. I used the word "reprimand" to [STRIKE]mean[/STRIKE] indicate my disapproval of [STRIKE]with[/STRIKE] the sentence. Maybe it's not usual to use it that way.

That's right. "Reprimand" does not work in that sentence. Apart from "problem", you could use, for example, "concern" or "issue".

 

[GoesStation]

Not a teacher

Hello emsr2d2,

thanks for correcting me. I used the word "reprimand" to mean my disapproval with the sentence. Maybe its not usual to use it that way. And also because "I AM A NOT A TEACHER :-D".

Once you have made ten posts on the forum, you can add a signature to your profile as I have—see below. Then you'll never have to remember to write "not a teacher" again.

 

[Tdol]

Hello again Tdol. Its alright . Thanks for clarifying me.

WOW! I have just corrected an English Teacher who happens to be a British by birth :-D]

It is easy to make a typo, and also embarrassingly easy to miss out the most important word in an answer. However, you might want to check the grammar of your use of Its. :up: