prepositions

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navi tasan

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You and I met a hefty man in the supermarket together a while ago. Today I met that man again somewhere else, say, in the park. Which of the following sentences could I use:

1-I ran into the hefty man from the supermarket today.

2-I ran into the hefty man in the supermarket today.
3-I ran into the hefty man of the train station today.

Gratefully,
Navi.
 

Barb_D

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billmcd

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You and I met a hefty man in the supermarket together a while ago. Today I met that man again somewhere else, say, in the park. Which of the following sentences could I use:

1-I ran into the hefty man from the supermarket today.
If he worked there.
2-I ran into the hefty man in the supermarket today. No man in particular, but you recognized him because of his size/weight.
3-I ran into the hefty man of the train station today. No.

Gratefully,
Navi.

And you would seldom hear/read the term "hefty" in modern day English.
 

emsr2d2

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Why, in sentence #3, did he suddenly have something to do with the train station? Shouldn't it still say "supermarket"?
 

Barb_D

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Sorry, but I see #2 as saying you met him in the supermarket, not in the park.
 

navi tasan

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Thank you all very much,

I am sorry. I changed horses in midstream so to speak and messed up. "Train station" has nothing to do there. It has to be supermarket.

I think that native speakers have different takes on "1' and "2'.
For some:

1-I ran into the hefty man from the supermarket today.


necessarily implies that the man worked there. I customer could not be referred to as "the man from the supermarket". If the man was a customer than

2-I ran into the hefty man in the supermarket today

Should be used. For the others "2" can only mean that I ran into him in the supermarket.

That is a very tentative conclusion I have come to.
I am not sure that this thread confirms that although I suspect it does. I don't quite see what Bill means by "No man in particular".

Gratefully,
Navi.
 

billmcd

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By "no man in particular" I meant that he was not a personal acquaintance, but that you recognized him as having seen him on previous occasions at the supermarket.
 

navi tasan

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Thanks Bill.
 

CharlieN

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These 3 sentences have slightly different meanings.

1. The hefty man you ran into works at the supermarket or goes to that particular supermarket
2. You ran into the hefty man at the supermarket. This sentence sounds like you've met him somewhere else before, but you met him again today.
3. This sounds a bit inaccurate to me. I think it should be "I ran into the hefty man at/in the train station today."
 

Barb_D

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Again I disagree. If you and I met this guy, or at least saw him, at place X, then for us he is the guy from place X. It doesn't matter if he works there, was a customer, or stopped walking past only long enough to tie his shoe. Our common shared reference for him is place X so he will be the guy from place X when we talk about him.

If you say you met the guy in place X, then that is where the encounter took place.

Don't use of.
 

navi tasan

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Thank you very much Charlie and Bobd.

That seems to be the majority view. It seems logical and neat too. Indeed "in some place" sounds like an adverbial to me.

Gratefully,
Navi.
 
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