As I was saying

[99bottles]

Is it correct to use 'carry on' like this?

'So, as I was saying,' she carried on.

 

[Tarheel]

It's probably technically correct, but I don't like it much. (Context would probably help.)

 

[99bottles]

It's probably technically correct, but I don't like it much. (Context would probably help.)

Should I write 'she continued' instead?

 

[Tarheel]

That's probably better, but I would expect you to say what she continued doing.

 

[emsr2d2]

That's probably better, but I would expect you to say what she continued doing.

With "she continued", it's clear that she carried on with what she had been saying.

 

[emsr2d2]

But I don't know what she had been saying.

That's irrelevant. It's clear from the context ("So, as I was saying ...") that she had been saying something and now she wants to continue.

 

[99bottles]

That's probably better, but I would expect you to say what she continued doing.

Are you sure it's not redundant? Here is an example from Macmillan.

After a pause, he continued: ‘She’s much better now, of course.’

 

[Tarheel]

Are you sure it's not redundant? Here is an example from Macmillan.

After a pause, he continued: ‘She’s much better now, of course.’

That's exactly what I had in mind. That's a good example.

No, there's no redundancy.

(I want to give you the credit, but I can't. ;-) )

 

[99bottles]

That's exactly what I had in mind. That's a good example.

No, there's no redundancy.

(I want to give you the credit, but I can't. ;-) )

I'm confused. 'There is no redundancy' means that 'speaking' is not redundant, so I must write 'continued speaking' instead of just 'continued'. Then why are you calling my example good?

 

[Tarheel]

Well, I think we can safely assume that he had already been speaking. That's what "continued" indicates. So it isn't necessary to say "continued speaking".

Something is only a redundancy if it is unnecessarily repetitious.

Have I missed something?

 

[Tarheel]

Then why are you calling my example good?

It's exactly the kind of thing I had in mind.

 

[Tarheel]

I suppose you could say/write "continued speaking" if you want to, but there's no need to do so.

 

[tzfujimino]

I would have liked to see the following sentence, 99bottles. Please forget about the "continue doing" part in Tarheel's post.
(I think Tarheel feels the same.)

 

[99bottles]

Well, I think we can safely assume that he had already been speaking. That's what "continued" indicates. So it isn't necessary to say "continued speaking".

Something is only a redundancy if it is unnecessarily repetitious.

Have I missed something?

Nvm, we're saying the same thing.

 

[Tarheel]

99bottles, never ever ever ignore anything in my posts.
;-)