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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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1) I went to a woodworking seminar last summer.
2) To a friend: It`s about time you got here, I was freezing my buns off.
....To a date: [silence and chirping cricket emoticon as I have already left]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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If you were reporting on having attended an exhibition last summer, what sentence would you choose as your most natural style of usage?
"I heard the Pops at the Esplanade last summer."
"I went to Boston MFA for the photography exhibit last week."
The verb would depend on the occasion : music= I heard; paintings= I saw; baseball game or another athletic event = I went to.
2. If someone had kept you waiting for a meeting outside a shop, say, what sort of construction would you use if reproving them about their final arrival (please incorporate a variant of those last two words)
When a teen I learned that since I try very hard to be on time and others are sometimes delayed I always arrange to meet somewhere comfy, if wait I must!
It would be up to the late arrival to offer an explanation for being tardy.
I would probably say : "I ordered tea, sit down and catch your breath."
However, if I was really upset, and the meeting was important, and time for it was short, and I knew the person very well, or it was someone I was paying, or it was a family member I would smile (or frown if they were more than 15 minutes late) and say : "What kept you?" while sipping my tea.
"Final arrrival" does not feel comfortable to this American ear in the circumstances you set forth. More suited to a funeral!
wow
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Joined: Feb 2001
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 52 |
If event I attended last week was basically visual..."I saw that show, game, etc." Or "I played tennis last week".
"I went shopping last week...went to doctor...went to a board meeting, etc"
For late arrivals..." I was beginniing to worry about you" if a friend. Or if business meeting just say "We'd better get started now." Or something like that.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
1) a) "I went to the game." b) "We heard Beethoven last night;" variant -- "We saw Beethoven last night."
2) "Where've you been?!" (But usually nothing.) or, as I said to my friend I___ last week, "Only you could have been later than I was tonight!"
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks very much, peeps. Just *dandy  I guess what I was thinking of with (2) was - which would you find came more naturally of these options? 2.1 So you have finally arrived! 2.2 So you finally arrived! If you cannot imagine using either, fair enough. I spect there's something in your constitution about that 
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addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 428 |
I'm trying to do this without thinking about it too much:
1. I went to the Super Bowl last year. I saw the Van Gogh exhibit while I was in town.
2. final arrival (please incorporate a variant of those last two words) Not sure about that bit, but: Finally! I wasn't sure you would ever arrive! (Normally I'd say "show up" or "get here" instead of "arrive.")
Hope it helps,
Flatlander
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Definitely 2.2
Wouldn't use have here. Probably if we used the 2.1 construction it has become So you've finally arrived and the 've has merged with the f and become lost. I also think that US'ns wouldn't normally use that phrase at all
But note: So you've come at last. and not *So you came at last
Pretty much go along with everybody else on 1. I think you've got a good cross section of US'n's usage here.
And Note: The * in my note above indicates "improper" (in the Safiric sense; If it sounds funny the hell with it) usage.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Oh, now I understand what you were after. I'd say, "You finally got here". No have. Under certain circumstances, say I was waiting to introduce a belated speaker to an audience, I might say, "Oh good, you're here". ARE, not have (come). Nobody "arrives" where I am--someone can arrive at their destination--as long as that destination is not my location. This isn't a rule or anything. But I, and every person I know here, would think it odd to be told, "you have arrived" or "you finally arrived". Even when someone was telling me about a trip, I'd be more likely to say, "Did you get there on time?" than, "Did you arrive on time?". But if your research must include the word arrive, then it would be "You finally arrived". Hope this helps, Sweetie.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ahhhh. I see.
Well, like Jackie and most, I would never use the word arrived in Enlish to mean get there. I have heard arrived used to mean somebody has finally made a success of himself/herself after a lot of hard work. As in..."she has finally arrived."
In French we would definitely say, C'est à peu près temps que tu arrives / it is about time you arrived...when somebody has kept you waiting.
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journeyman
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journeyman
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If it's a big art exhibition that everyone is aware of (I hang in the NYC art world), I might say "I did the VanGogh at the Met yesterday." Otherwise I'd say "I saw the Van Gogh exhibition at the Met yesterday."
If someone's late, whether I commented at all would depend on how late, and what our relationship was. I might say, "What's up?" or I might say "Did I confuse our meeting time? I thought we were meeting at 3:00." This way if there really was confusion and not just tardiness I haven't accused someone unnecessarily.
I just wouldn't use "finally" or "arrive." But given the two choices you suggested, I guess I'd use 2.2.
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