throw it in the river like the....

[navi tasan]

Is this sentence correct:
1) Is he going to throw the gun in the river like the knife?

Does it mean:
a) Is he going to throw the gun in the river as he threw the knife in the river?

Could it mean:
2) Is he going to throw the gun in the river like the knife was thrown in the river? (In this case it is possible that he did not throw the knife in the river, but someone else did)

Gratefully,
Navi.

 

[tedmc]

throw something into the river.

not a teacher

 

[Raymott]

1) Is he going to throw the gun in the river like the knife?

The sentence is correct. It could also mean "Is he going to throw the gun into the knife-like river?"

 

[MikeNewYork]

That would be highly unlikely, in my opinion.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you both very much,

Could one tell from the sentence whether 'he' was the one who threw the knife in the river?

Gratefully,
Navi.

 

[emsr2d2]

No, that's not clear. All we know is that a knife was, at some point, thrown into the river.

Note that "to throw something in the river" works in BrE. It's not necessary to use "into".

 

[Matthew Wai]

Is he going to throw the gun in the river as he threw the knife in the river?

Can the following mean the above?
'Is he going to throw the gun into the river like he did the knife?'

Not a teacher.

 

[Raymott]

That would be highly unlikely, in my opinion.

Mine too. If it was blindingly obvious, I would not have bothered pointing it out. I said it could mean that, and it could.

 

[Tdol]

And Navi is on a quest for the highly unlikely. ;-)

 

[Matthew Wai]

Do you mean highly unlikely nuances of meaning?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes. At a certain point, "highly unlikely" and "impossible" intersect.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

1) Is he going to throw the gun in the river like the knife?

The sentence is correct. It could also mean "Is he going to throw the gun into the knife-like river?"

Nice try, but I think you'll confuse Navi!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Here's another opinion of someone from the U.S:

Is this sentence correct:
1) Is he going to throw the gun in the river like the knife?

Conversationally, we might say: "Is he going to throw the gun in the river, like he threw the knife?"

But it would be more grammatical to say "... as he threw the knife."

Does it mean:
a) Is he going to throw the gun in the river as he threw the knife in the river?

Yes.

Could it mean:
2) Is he going to throw the gun in the river like the knife was thrown in the river? (In this case it is possible that he did not throw the knife in the river, but someone else did)

No.

Gratefully,
Navi.

 

[Tdol]

Do you mean highly unlikely nuances of meaning?

Many of Navi's questions are based around trying to dig possible/improbable nuances out of sentences.