Function of the sentence: I'm afraid he's not in the office.

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

I’m afraid he’s not in the office.

2

Hi Sonnete

When giving someone bad news or when you are not able to accommodate someone’s request (for example), we sometimes soften the bad news by apologizing with introductory phrases such as ‘I’m afraid’ or ‘Sorry’.
So, basically, your sentence is apologetic.
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3

Remembering of course that pragmatics can be a tricky part of language learning.

“I’m afraid he’s not in the office”, for example, could mean “no matter how many times you call with the intention of pestering him, you are not going to get to speak to him - if I have anything to do with it”. So, if the pragmatic competence of the listener is up to scratch, the “apology” function goes out the window.

4

Thanks…
A very good response…

5

It seems almost contradictory to talk about pragmatics in a context with no context.

  1. I’m afraid he’s not in the office.

I would say that while #1 may be true in one context, false in another, and a rebuff in yet another, it always retains its apologetic implication.

Otherwise, it would not be effective as e.g. a lie, or as a rebuff in the context M. describes: its opacity depends on its apologetic nature.

(By which I mean, the bothersome caller can’t reasonably respond with “What you really mean is, no matter how many times you call with the intention of pestering him, you are not going to get to speak to him – if I have anything to do with it”.)

MrP

6

We see that Mr P knows very little about pragmatics.

7

I’m sure we all know very little about most things, old chap. But I’ll be interested to read your explanation of where my explanation goes awry.

All the best,

MrP

8

“Awry”? Is Mr P a 80s’ child?

1920s 2.0
1930s 0.9
1940s 1.6
1950s 1.2
1960s 2.0
1970s 2.4
1980s 4.3
1990s 5.9
2000s 3.3

Time Magazine.

9

Or maybe he lives in the world of Fiction:

awry

SPOKEN 0.0
FICTION 2.0
NEWSPAPER 0.9
ACADEMIC 0.5
MISC 1.1

The BNC.

10

You’ll forgive me if I don’t reply in kind, old chap.

MrP

11

Fact: there are approx. 12 searches per day for “awry” across the major English-language search engines. Could they all be in reference to Mr P’s postings?

12

As I said, I’ll be interested to read your explanation of where my explanation goes awry.

MrP

13

Me too. :wink:
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