Having not much money, he could afford it.

Status
Not open for further replies.

keannu

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Korean
Home Country
South Korea
Current Location
South Korea
I don't think I have heard of 2, but does it ever make sense?

1.Not having much money, he couldn't afford it.
2.Having not much money, he couldn't afford it.
 
Last edited:

Route21

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Thailand
As an NES but not a teacher, what they would both mean to me would be:
" The reason why he could not ("not" added, post facto, by moderators) afford it was that he didn't have much money".
Neither made sense to me.

Regards
R21
 
Last edited:

keannu

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Korean
Home Country
South Korea
Current Location
South Korea
Thanks, but i'm not focusing on the logic, but the interchangeability between "having not much money" and "not having much money"? Are they interchangeable or differerent or does the former never work?
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Did you mean, then, to write "couldn't" in your title, instead of "could"? I, like Route21 I think, concentrated on the contents of your title which is a statement that doesn't make sense.
 

keannu

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Korean
Home Country
South Korea
Current Location
South Korea
I adopted the little silly original sentence from a mid-term preparation material, and it focues on grammar, not the meaning. Could you just tell me you can use "Having Not..." in a sentence?
.Having not much money, he couldn't afford it.
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
1.Not having much money, he couldn't afford it.
2.Having not much money, he couldn't afford it.

They are grammatically correct, mean the same and are interchangeable.

But they are not natural.

Rover
 

keannu

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Korean
Home Country
South Korea
Current Location
South Korea
Maybe those are related to amount, both meaning the same thing, but the following's 2 wouldn't make sense, ungrammatical.
1.Not having done his homework, he was rebuked by his teacher.
2.Having not done his homework, he was rebuked by his teacher.

Aso, can be this interpreted like in this way?
Not having much money, he could afford it => Though he didn't have much money, he could afford it.
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
1.Not having done his homework, he was rebuked by his teacher.
2.Having not done his homework, he was rebuked by his teacher. Again: grammatical/same meaning/unnatural.

Also, can be this interpreted like in this way?
Not having much money, he could afford it => Though he didn't have much money, he could afford it. No.
`
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
They are grammatically correct, mean the same and are interchangeable.

But they are not natural.

Rover

Really? 1. is perfectly natural in AmE, and we hear 2 at [times] from awkward young people, the sort who use "like" a lot.
 
Last edited:

bhaisahab

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 12, 2008
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
Ireland
Really? 1. is perfectly natural in AmE, and we hear 2 at from awkward young people, the sort who use "like" a lot.

It seems unnatural to me. It would be natural as "He was rebuked by his teacher for not having done his homework".
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top