Strangely enough, thinking back to Sunday's post, a similar thing happened today in class: we were dealing with before/after + - ing clauses and the last one in the exercise was:
Remember to lock the door / put the rubbish out
which had to be transformed into "Remember to lock the door after putting the rubbish out."
The problem here is that, even after helping the student to deal with the phrasal verb "put out" in this context and the fact that the object comes between verb and preposition, a student from here still has no concept of the meaning as no one "puts their rubbish out" [as in a bin, provided by your local council and which you place outside your door or gate once a week or fortnight in the UK]. Here, you carry your rubbish along to conveniently placed communal bins. No one has to walk far to do this and recycling bins are conveniently located, too.
So "cultural leaping" can be on a very mundane level!
Sounds complicated!
ReplyDeleteNow that sounds such a good idea. We have two refuse companies here. One comes round at about 5.30am and makes such a noise with its ancient machinery. I'd much rather carry things away.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought you would lock the door after putting the rubbish out myself, not before, but who knows in Italy. Of course if you have to walk along the street to put it out then you should lock the door before leaving to put the rubbish out. I'm very confused here Welshcakes and I speak English. Then again maybe not.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is, cherrypie! Dragonstar, it's not too bad carrying things away as there are communal bins every few yards. Otherwise, without car, I would find it very difficult.
ReplyDeleteJmb, I cannot thank you enough: of course it should read "after putting... " and I have amended it accordingly.
Blame it on the Limoncello!
Quite quaint seeing people wandering along in smart clothes with bags of rubbish.
ReplyDeleteNow I always say I'm taking the rubbish out - putting it out sounds oddly American to my ears, and reminds me of sniggering school boys. Bless.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that before, James, but now you come to mention it, it's true. Hi, mopsa. I automatically say "put" here - perhaps it depends on where you are in the UK? Auguri.
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