Two translation

Question

1. The journalist interviewed the actor in a tuxedo.

2. The journalist interviewed the actor in a tuxedo.

If the context is not given, which translation you have?(in #2, The journalist who are in a tuxedo.)

Dokterjokkebrok · Accepted Answer

moon72961. The journalist interviewed the actor in a tuxedo.
2. The journalist interviewed the actor in a tuxedo.

If the context is not given, which translation you have?(in #2, The journalist who are in a tuxedo.)

This reminds me of Groucho Marx's hilarious:

''I once shot an elephant in my pajamas, how he got in my pajamas I'll never know.''

If the context is not provided, then, gathering from how you analyzed the sentence, I would say #1 means that the actor is the one who is wearing a tux, not the journalist.

You could rewrite that one like: The journalist interviewed the actor who was wearing a tuxedo.

#2 would then mean that the journalist is wearing a tux. In that case, it can be rewritten like this:

The journalist, who was wearing a tuxedo, interviewed the actor.

Note that you must decide for yourself whether or not to make your relative clauses restrictive or not. That is, is a comma required before who or isn't it?

- DJB -

Two translation

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬