once already
- Thread starter ostap77
- Start date
- Views : 3,113
- Status
ostap77
Key Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2010
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Ukrainian
- Home Country
- Ukraine
- Current Location
- Ukraine
"I've been bit once already by a German shepherd. And that was someting. It was really scary. It was an outside meter the woman had. I read the gas meter and was walking back out and heard a woman yell. I turned around, and this German shepherd was coming at me. The first thing I thought of was that he might go for my throat, like the movies.........."
Raymott
VIP Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2008
- Member Type
- Academic
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
In this case, I think you'll find that the necessary context comes before the index sentence. Why is the narrator telling this story? Is there an imminent threat of being bitten again by a German shepherd? Did someone mention being bitten by a German shepherd? "Already" implies the possibility of a second bite.
The context is still missing.
Context is not merely the surrounding words (although it can be). The context here is perhaps: A man narrowly avoids being bitten by a dog. He tells his friend he wouldn't want that to happen again. He says, "I've been bitten once already by a German shepherd."
The context is what is happening in the narrator's present that leads him to say that.
ostap77
Key Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2010
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Ukrainian
- Home Country
- Ukraine
- Current Location
- Ukraine
I wish I could have supplied you with the present that led the speaker to say that. There is no context that preceeds "I've been bit once already ....."
What kind of grammatical consruction is that? I've not come across such constructions in grammar text-books?
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2008
- Member Type
- Retired English Teacher
- Native Language
- British English
- Home Country
- England
- Current Location
- Ireland
You won't find it in grammar books because it's not correct. You could say, "I've already been bitten by a German shepherd", "I've been bitten once before by a German shepherd".
ostap77
Key Member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2010
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Ukrainian
- Home Country
- Ukraine
- Current Location
- Ukraine
Thanks,bhaisahab. Is this some kind of a dilect? Is it one of the things that are said but never written like "He didn't tell us aything we didn't already know."?
Raymott
VIP Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2008
- Member Type
- Academic
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
You're right in that there are redundant words in the original. I wouldn't go as far as saying that it was incorrect though (assuming 'bitten').
Raymott
VIP Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2008
- Member Type
- Academic
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
It's not any kind of grammatical construction.
You have "I've been bitten" the passive voice of the present perfect, saying that you've been bitten; then two adverbs: "once", which says how many times it's happened, and "already" to indicate something that the context doesn't provide.
So, that's how the story starts? That's unusual.
- Status
