went (at) 120

[ademoglu]

Hi,

*self-made*

- The car went (at) 120 mph.

I'd like to ask if 'at' is necessary or not.

Thanks.

 

[Raymott]

It's not a natural sentence. Here are some sentences that might work: "The car was going at 120 mph." "The car could go up to 120 mph." "He got the car up to 120 mph."
Even if the question was, "How fast did the car go?", your reply would be unnatural.

 

[GoesStation]

You could, however, write The car went off the road at 120 mph.

 

[ademoglu]

Thanks for the answer. Could you tell me if it is also unnatural to use the present simple: My car goes at 120 mhp.

I think it is not OK but am not sure.

 

[Raymott]

You can say, "My car can go 120 miles per hour." You don't need 'at'.
To say it goes at 120 mph is to imply that that is its usual speed.

 

[ademoglu]

I cannot understand why the simple past tense is unnatural but the simple present is OK.

 

[GoesStation]

Thanks for the answer. Could you tell me if it is also unnatural to use the present simple: My car goes at 120 mhp.

I think it is not OK but am not sure.

That does not sound natural to me. We usually use "to do" to describe this: we'd say My car does 120 (mph).

 

[Raymott]

I cannot understand why the simple past tense is unnatural but the simple present is OK.

"My car goes ..." means "My car can go ..."
"My car went ..." requires a specific time in the past. You don't give one. It's unnatural because you would normally not be asked, "How fast did your car go at 8pm last night?" If you were asked, "What is the fastest your car went in the street race last night?," you could possibly say "It went 120 mph." But you probably wouldn't. You'd say something like, "We got it up to 120 mph." or "It went up to 120 mph."

 

[GoesStation]

If you were asked, "What is the fastest your car went in the street race last night?," you could possibly say "It went 120 mph." But you probably wouldn't. You'd say something like, "We got it up to 120 mph." or "It went up to 120 mph."

The most natural answer would be "A hundred and twenty."

 

[Raymott]

The most natural answer would be "A hundred and twenty."

Maybe. If it happened in a normal country that uses kilometres, you'd say, "a hundred and ninety-three K".
Wouldn't you say "A/one hundred twenty" in AmE?

 

[GoesStation]

Maybe. If it happened in a normal country that uses kilometres, you'd say, "a hundred and ninety-three K".
Wouldn't you say "A/one hundred twenty" in AmE?

Hey, we're the normal ones! Is it our fault the rest of the world is so odd?

I find a hundred 'n' twenty more normal. We have no shortage of syllables here in southwest Ohio (except when pronouncing the two-syllable word "Ironton"), but I think including a vestige of and​ is pretty typical in AmE.

 

[Barb_D]

I'd say "He was going a hundred and twenty when he crashed" (with the "and").
I'd say "It can get up to one twenty."