Hi all,
Is there any difference between such two sentences:
a) The last person trying to arrest him was shot in the foot
b) The last person to try to arrest him was shot in the foot.
Thanks for your suggestions,
Iryna
Technically there’s not really any difference, but they “feel” different to me:
a) The last person who tried to arrest him (in one specific situation, probably when he finally did get arrested) was shot in the foot.
b) The last person who tried to arrest him (in any situation, all situations combined) was shot in the foot.
Another native English speaker may have a different feeling.
Thank you, Jamie, but which is which. Sorry, but you seem to have misprinted one of the sentences.
I need to know for certain, because I have to explain it to the students. My grammar book gives only “to try” as a correct answer. However, the gerund sounds to me like an attempt (rather unsuccessful), while the infinitive sounds like a successful undertaking. I compared it with the sentence “Herod wasn’t the last person to try to kill Jesus” that I found on the Internet. Could you please write your answer once again.
Many thanks.
Iryna, it should be clear which sentence is which, because I marked my interpretations (a) and (b) just as you did your original sentences.
As I say, both sentences are possible and correct, but there is a difference in nuance and what we would see in our minds.
Where are you, by the way? I have never seen “Iryna” spelled with a Y.
- “Herod wasn’t the last person -to try- to kill Jesus.” (Infinitive)
- “Herod wasn’t the last person -trying- to kill Jesus.” (Gerund)
Are the both sentences correct?
Thanks,
Er.S.M.M.Hanifa
In sentence No. 2, it sounds like a whole bunch of people were trying to kill Jesus at the very same time, and that Herod gave up before the last person did.
I come from Ukraine and I work at a Translation Studies Department in the University. We’ve been discussing this “y” issue a lot and for now it’s been decided that it’s the best way to render short sound [i] in Ukrainian (pronounced similarly to the one in “list”) and to differentiate it from Russian [i:]. I don’t know, maybe it does sound weird for you but it is supported phonologically.
So your name sounds like [ɪrɪna] or ирына?
Somewhere in-between. Ukrainian [и] is softer than Russian [ы] but still harder (not so front) than English [i]
So it’s probably like English [ɪ].
It is, but it’s a middle-lingual sound.
P.S. Sorry, I should have bothered to pick the right symbol. I thought it would be clear like that.
Alan:
Sorry but the difference between “try” and “trying” it’s not clear for me. Can you please be more specific and give more examples?Thanks.
UPS!!! sorry it’s Iryna rather than Alan. Please Iryna send me more examples.