Post by Madrigal GurneyhaltPost by Harrison HillPost by Athel Cornish-BowdenPost by m***@gmail.comPost by a***@gmail.com1) He gave them all together 500 dollars.
2) He gave them altogether 500 dollars.
3) He gave them all in all 500 dollars.
4) He gave them 500 dollars between them.
5) He gave them 500 dollars to divide up between themselves.
6) He gave them 500 dollars combined.
Which are grammatical?
Which are idiomatic?
Gratefully,
Navi
To my American ear they all sound strange and ambiguous except #5.
I agree, though I'd also accept 4.
As usual, Harrison's opinion is nonsense. Not content with trying to
persuade everyone that "watch" and "see" mean the same thing, he now
seems to think that "all together" means the same as "altogether".
"I watched him score his first goal."
...is speaking a different language to the one I have grown up speaking.
Yes indeed. But that's because the language you have grown up
speaking is a unique creation of your own and your mother's making.
Any resemblance to English, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
You can "watch" a football match presumably. A football match consists
of "pass", "throw-in", "pass", "corner", "pass", "goal".
You are (all of you?) saying that you can "watch" the whole thing, but
you can't "watch" any of its components? What sort of logic does that
follow? I know that just because you can "drive" a car, it doesn't mean
that you can "drive" its hub-caps; but these building blocks are exactly
the same as the whole - short sections of it.
I'll do a navi and see where it is each of you draws the line. How
about:
"I watched the first goal in slow motion"?