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Yeah, totally! I didn’t pay any attention in German class in elementary school at all, so I’m totally unable to recite any rules (and I’m not even sure whether

by arrrg 12y ago

Yeah, totally! I didn’t pay any attention in German class in elementary school at all, so I’m totally unable to recite any rules (and I’m not even sure whether we were ever taught that explicitly), but that ordering totally exists and the incorrect sentence you just made up is actually completely incorrect. It’s not just a stylistic blunder (but people would still understand what you are trying to say). I also remember being explicitly taught about some similar (but different) ordering in English, though I have mostly forgotten about it. I think time is always supposed to come last or something? So “we are going to go to the airport with the bus tomorrow” would be correct (placing tomorrow at the beginning of the sentence would be, too, and would be the variant I would personally prefer), while “we are going to go to the airport tomorrow with the bus”, while still correct, would not be something you’d want to write. Or maybe I’m misremembering, because that second sentence seems correct to me, just placing more of an emphasis on the means of transportation than the first one (i.e. you would use that one when someone already knows about your plans, but asked you how you will get to the airport). I don’t know. This is all a haze. I remember something about time and putting it last.

bodhi 12y ago
I don't want to come across as mean, but this is a thread for pedants, and I couldn't resist the irony: > So “we are going to go to the airport with the bus tomorrow” would be correct Actually you go by bus, or on the bus, never with the bus.
- arrrg 12y ago
  No, no, that’s quite alright. See, it did sound wrong to me but I couldn’t come up with anything better on the spot so I left it that way. “With the bus” is the German construction, so an easy mistake to make.
mratzloff 12y ago
Your intuition is correct. “We are going to go to the airport tomorrow by bus" is fine, it just emphasizes the mode of transportation. Note "by bus" and not "with the bus", which is technically correct ("How are you getting to the airport?" "We're going with the bus.") but sounds a bit odd; "We're taking the bus" or "We're going by bus" would be more natural. After considering it more, I realized the only case in which "with the bus" is acceptable is when you are referring to "the bus" as a group of people, where you could plausibly say "the bus group". And that is why I considered changing the example to "with the shuttle" (as that sounded more plausible to me): because you are more likely to know a group of people on a shuttle than an entire bus.
jameshart 12y ago
Thanks for confirming my hazy German grammar memories. I had the impression it was a strong rule, but I also learned a lot of subjunctive and genitive forms that are pretty much unused in spoken German, so I didn't want to overstate the situation with time/manner/place sequencing in case it was a similar case of book-rules versus real life.
llllllllllll 12y ago
Adverbs and adverbial phrases can move pretty freely in English. These all sound fine to me: we are going to go to the airport by bus tomorrow we are going to go by bus to the airport tomorrow tomorrow, we are going to go to the airport by bus we are going to go to the airport tomorrow by bus we are going to go tomorrow to the airport by bus The last sentence sounds a little more awkward, but if you're emphasizing when the event is occurring, it would be fine. Similarly, in the right context: to the airport, we are going to go by bus tomorrow by bus, we are going to go to the airport tomorrow This phenomenon is called topicalization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topicalization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topicalization

by arrrg 12y ago

bodhi 12y ago

I don't want to come across as mean, but this is a thread for pedants, and I couldn't resist the irony: > So “we are going to go to the airport with the bus tomorrow” would be correct Actually you go by bus, or on the bus, never with the bus.

arrrg 12y ago
No, no, that’s quite alright. See, it did sound wrong to me but I couldn’t come up with anything better on the spot so I left it that way. “With the bus” is the German construction, so an easy mistake to make.

mratzloff 12y ago

Your intuition is correct. “We are going to go to the airport tomorrow by bus" is fine, it just emphasizes the mode of transportation. Note "by bus" and not "with the bus", which is technically correct ("How are you getting to the airport?" "We're going with the bus.") but sounds a bit odd; "We're taking the bus" or "We're going by bus" would be more natural. After considering it more, I realized the only case in which "with the bus" is acceptable is when you are referring to "the bus" as a group of people, where you could plausibly say "the bus group". And that is why I considered changing the example to "with the shuttle" (as that sounded more plausible to me): because you are more likely to know a group of people on a shuttle than an entire bus.

jameshart 12y ago

Thanks for confirming my hazy German grammar memories. I had the impression it was a strong rule, but I also learned a lot of subjunctive and genitive forms that are pretty much unused in spoken German, so I didn't want to overstate the situation with time/manner/place sequencing in case it was a similar case of book-rules versus real life.

llllllllllll 12y ago

Adverbs and adverbial phrases can move pretty freely in English. These all sound fine to me: we are going to go to the airport by bus tomorrow we are going to go by bus to the airport tomorrow tomorrow, we are going to go to the airport by bus we are going to go to the airport tomorrow by bus we are going to go tomorrow to the airport by bus The last sentence sounds a little more awkward, but if you're emphasizing when the event is occurring, it would be fine. Similarly, in the right context: to the airport, we are going to go by bus tomorrow by bus, we are going to go to the airport tomorrow This phenomenon is called topicalization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topicalization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topicalization