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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > on the left or to the left
on the left or to the left
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Aldegunde
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on the left or to the left
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Hi everybody!
I also need your help to clarify a couple of grammatical questions.
When you are describing a room which one is correct: "On the left of the desk there is a wardrobe" or "to the left...". And the second one is the position of frequency adverbs in compound tenses: "He will have already arrived" or "he will already have arrived". Thanks in advance for your help. |
26 Jan 2010
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aquarius_gr
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1) "to the left"
2) both are correct
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26 Jan 2010
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anitarobi
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Hi! As for the room description - if you �re talking about the stationary position of something, use ON, because TO implies movement. So if you describe the position of the wardrobe, it �s on the left, but if you describe to somebody how to get there, then it �s go to the left of the classroom or whatever.
As for the position of the single-word adverb, the second one is correct in written English, so �he will already have arrived �, whereas in spoken English it should follow the natural flow of thought, so you can �t really be as strict as with written....
Examples:
- You will only have learned a few words.
- Will you only have learned a few words?
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26 Jan 2010
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Aldegunde
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Thanks a lot for your help Anitarobi. I thought it had more to do with the use of the preposition "of" :"on the left" "to the left of something" but I wasn �t sure about it. |
26 Jan 2010
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yanogator
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Aldegunde, you are right about "of".
My car is the one on the left.
My car is to the left of yours.
When you leave here, go to the left.
Bruce |
26 Jan 2010
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aquarius_gr
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Your sentence has �of � ... it �s "to the left of the desk" not on
"To my left stands John" .. John isn �t moving
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26 Jan 2010
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