Have the children taken _to__ their new teacher?

simonwai77 · Post by **simonwai77** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:19 am

hi sir
what does the above sentence mean ?
thanks a lot

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 12:13 pm

'Hi' is informal for 'hello'.

(It is not a sentence!)

Dixie · Post by **Dixie** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:30 pm

I think s/he meant the title of the topic

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:29 am

Thank you, Dixie. I clearly wasn't paying attention!

The sentence means esentially: Ask someone to/make someone take the children to their new teacher.

It is termed a causative construction.

Alan · Post by **Alan** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:39 am

It strikes me that there is a second, quite different meaning to your sentence (I'm afraid that I interpreted the question mark as generally affixed to your question rather than as a part of the sentence itself), namely 'Have the children developed a liking for their new teacher?'

If the question mark is actually a part of this sentence, then that is the only possible interpretation.

(I hope I have not muddled you!)