English question

亞舜

Can anyone tell the difference between:

(1) Why do you give the skirts away?

(2) Why do you give away the skirts?

My son wrote no. (1) but teacher marked it is wrong, the correct answer should be no. (2)

Please advise.

Reddish

give something away = 將一些東西和另一些東西分別開來.
give away = 送贈

ah-ho

其實我都唔覺有分別，只係寫法上唔同。

上網check過下，

Phrasal Verb: give something away

To hand it over as a gift.To sell it at an incredibly low price.To allow (a piece of information) to become known, usually by accident.

give away
1. To make a gift of.
2. To present (a bride) to the bridegroom at a wedding ceremony.
3.
a. To reveal or make known, often accidentally.
b. To betray.

Mighty

我也問過一位NATIVE　SPEAKER、説第２句的説法比較NATURAL。　但、、、他説他自己会説成Why are you give away the skirts? 這個在語感上更自然。

亞舜

謝謝各位意見。

cornelius

原帖由 亞舜 於 11-12-14 11:06 發表
Can anyone tell the difference between:

(1) Why do you give the skirts away?

(2) Why do you give away the skirts?

My son wrote no. (1) but teacher marked it is wrong, the correct answer should be  ...

The grammar book (of my school days) says that (1) is correct when "the skirts" is replaced with the pronoun "them", i.e.

Why do you give them away?

In other words, "give away" can only be inserted with pronouns but not the original wordings the pronouns represent.

[ 本帖最後由 cornelius 於 11-12-14 15:48 編輯 ]

piggynatalie

Ha, I cannot tell the difference at all! It would be very discouraging to accept only one!