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Thread: Emphasis on a word, corresponding with English "does" or "did"

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    Почтенный гражданин oldboy's Avatar
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    "She doesn't speak English but she speaks Russian." vs.
    "She doesn't speak English but she does speak Russian."
    Насколько я понял, в этих примерах с логической точки зрения ударение падает на "English" и на "Russian", а с грамматической - на "speak". Т.е. сама фраза получается абсурдной.
    Союз "but" говорит о противопоставлении одного другому ("по-английски" противопоставляется "по-русски"), но акцент почему-то делается на действии "говорит".

    Сepo, если Вы хотели противопоставить друг другу действия и сделать акцент на этом, то нужно было бы сказать что-то типа:
    "She doesn't speak English but she does write English." = "Она не говорит по-английски, но зато пишет."

    Если Вы хотели противопоставить друг другу языки ("по-английски" и "по-русски") и сделать акцент на этом, то нужно было бы сказать что-то типа:
    "It is English that she doesn't speak but it is Russian that she speak." = "По-английски она не говорит, а вот по-русски умеет."


    I'll try to say the same in English:
    As far as I've understood, in your examples, the logical emphasis was made on "English" and "Russian" but the grammatically one on "speak". And then the phrase turns out "absurd". Don't be offended )
    The conjunction "but" tells us one thing contrasts with another (i.e. "English" vs "Russian") but the emphasis you made on the act "speak".

    Сepo, if you want to contrasts acts with each other and make the emphasis on that, you should say something like this:
    "She doesn't speak English but she does write English." = "Она не говорит по-английски, но зато пишет."

    If you want to contrasts the languages with each other ("English" and "Russian") and make the emphasis on that, you should say something like this:
    "It is English that she doesn't speak but it is Russian that she speak." = "По-английски она не говорит, а вот по-русски умеет."
    Last edited by oldboy; February 23rd, 2011 at 11:56 AM.
    Thanks for correcting me.

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