an accident with s trolley/cart

[JACEK1]

Hello everybody!

Suppose that you and your friend are taking a friendly stroll. Your friend, however, is pulling a cart along/behind. Suddenly the cart wheels on your toes/your friend wheels the cart on your toes by accident.

How would you express what your friend has done to you.

1. Knock it off. You have just run your cart wheels on/over my toes.

2. Knock it off. Your cart wheels have just run on/over my toes.

What do you think?

 

[Joe Bread]

The two phrases have slightly different connotations, and I would not recommend the use of either one.

Sentence #1 attributes the blame to your friend, whereas sentence #2 is more of an objective statement about the event that occurred. So unless your intention is to make your friend feel guilty, #2 is the superior choice. So that's my answer if your question is only limited to those two options.

If you are open to more options, then I would say that the phrase "cart wheels" shouldn't really be used in this context. It is technically incorrect English unless the word "cart" is modified to be possessive. The phrase also rings too close to the single word "cartwheels" which has a completely different meaning that is irrelevant to the situation (an acrobatic maneuver). The phrase "your cart's wheels" works better (showing that the cart is possessive of the wheels), or even "the wheels of your cart".

 

[JACEK1]

As far as the wheels are concerned, which phrase6 is better:

A. run on my toes,

B. run over my toes?

 

[Joe Bread]

Not a teacher

B. run over.

A. sounds like you're jogging on top of someone's toes.

 

[JACEK1]

How would you express the situation in everyday English?

 

[emsr2d2]

You just ran over my foot with your trolley. (Trolley = BrE; cart = AmE and probably others)

 

[Rover_KE]

Joe Bread, welcome to the forum. Please read this extract from the forum's Posting Guidelines:

You are welcome to answer questions posted in the Ask a Teacher forum as long as your suggestions, help, and advice reflect a good understanding of the English language. If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly in your post. P

 

[Joe Bread]

What constitutes being a teacher, and thus not having to make this distinction on every single post? Having a professional teaching degree from my country of origin, or simply having done paid work as a teacher in my lifetime (specifically as an English teacher or otherwise)?
Because if it's the latter, then I guess I am a teacher.

A strange rule regardless, as being a teacher does not necessarily prove that you will be providing consistent factual information, or vice versa.

 

[Rover_KE]

You appear to be a retired English teacher – like me. Please amend your profile accordingly; we don't require documentary evidence.

We look forward to receiving the benefit of your knowledge and experience.

 

[Joe Bread]

It's not a label I would typically attribute to myself (as it's never been what I consider a career), but if it makes both of our lives easier, than I will update my profile accordingly.

 

[Joe Bread]

Indeed.

However, this forum is called Ask a Teacher and people who ask questions here, particularly newcomers, therefore assume that responses are posted by teachers unless told otherwise

It's understandable considering the name of the forum - but like I said, what constitutes being a teacher can vary so greatly in theory that the distinction almost becomes meaningless. There's a large difference between someone with a professional teaching degree who has taught high school for 20 years with a person who took a 60-hour TEFL course to teach English for a few months. There's a large difference between someone who has been home-schooling their own two children with someone who is an accredited university professor. Does being a tutor count? It's technically paid teaching work. Everyone has been a teacher at some point, and everyone has been a learner at some point. If we're not going to demand certifications for the title, then the title can mean a plurality of things.

Furthermore, I would probably trust the average university student to teach a language lesson more than I would trust the majority of my elementary school teachers growing up - so maybe this is coming from a cynical view of professional teaching as a whole (sorry teachers here, I'm sure you're all great).

 

[Joe Bread]

Hah - what are you implying, that only forum members of a particular status can address issues? I didn't realize that such politics existed on an English language forum.

When I enter a public message board and am asked to explicitly state in every single one of my posts that I am not a teacher (implying that my input is less valuable regardless of the content), then it's kind of difficult not to point out a logical fallacy within the system. The request sounded ridiculous by the standards of any message board, especially considering that people can already point out teachers by reading under their username (along with the fact that the distinction doesn't mean much as I pointed out above).

An analogy: If I started class at a new school and the teacher immediately hands me some paper and a piece of chalk stating that I must use these two tools for all of my writing, I would not wait an entire month so that I'm not the "new kid" anymore when I point out the problem.

 

[emsr2d2]

This seems to be becoming a big deal when it's not. The forum rules are clear. If you're not a teacher, you have to say so when you respond to a learner's question. The simplest way to do this is to put "Not a teacher" in your signature line.
JoeBread - your profile says that you accepted the forum rules on 6 March 2020.

I am closing this thread as it no longer has anything to do with the original question.

 

[Tdol]

A strange rule regardless, as being a teacher does not necessarily prove that you will be providing consistent factual information, or vice versa.

Not really- it gives members a degree of confidence. Non-native speakers who are not teachers are free to answer things. I don't claim to be right on all things all the time, and no one would say that I am, but there are times when something is said that requires correcting.

 

[Tdol]

I didn't realize that such politics existed on an English language forum.

It is scarcely politics.

When I enter a public message board and am asked to explicitly state in every single one of my posts that I am not a teacher (implying that my input is less valuable regardless of the content), then it's kind of difficult not to point out a logical fallacy within the system.

I don't see the logical fallacy. I might be able to make valuable contributions to a forum on law, but sometimes a solicitor might have to correct me.