See vs can see

Status
Not open for further replies.

AlexAD

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Belarus
Current Location
United States
Hi

Looking into a binocular, I say, 'I can see a girl stripping in the building opposite'.
Would you feel any difference if I skipped 'can'?

I would be grateful if you would correct any mistakes you might find in this post.

Thanks Alex.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Both are possible; 'can see' is what we'd normally expect. A gentleman would use neither - he'd point the telescope in another direction.
 

probus

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Looking into a binocular is incorrect in my opinion. If you insist on looking into you would have to say a pair of binoculars and have a somewhat unidiomatic phrase. Or better, you could just forget about looking into and simply say With binoculars or Using binoculars.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Looking into a binocular is incorrect in my opinion. If you insist on looking into you would have to say a pair of binoculars and have a somewhat unidiomatic phrase. Or better, you could just forget about looking into and simply say With binoculars or Using binoculars.
:up:

I missed that.
 

AlexAD

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Belarus
Current Location
United States
Thanks 5jj.

It was a joke! Of course I didn't see anything!

1. Is 'in the building opposite' ok?
2. 1 being the same as 'in the opposite building'?
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Use 'the building opposite'. It is clear from this that you mean the building across from where you are now. If you use 'the opposite building', people will wonder 'opposite what?'.
 

AlexAD

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Belarus
Current Location
United States
If you use 'the opposite building', people will wonder 'opposite what?'.
That's interesting! And that's why
OALD gives us an example, Answers are given on the opposite page.
Here I cannot see any ambiguity about 'opposite what' as from the sentence it implies opposite the current page.
However if you say that the adjective should not be used in the previous example.. that's interesting :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top