Run the cat over 1

[Dimandja]

Or "Run over the cat"?

Is the meaning exactly the same?

 

[jakeyg]

not to the cat

 

[DPlank]

Depends on context. Running the cat over to the vet's is a different meaning to running the cat over with the car, for example.

As with so much in language, context reveals all..

Cheers,
Dave

Probably the only Test Analyst on Tek-Tips

animadverto vos in Abyssus!

Take a look at Forum1393 & sign up if you'd like

 

[columb]

My 2d worth - the verb is run over when talking about road accidents. When talking about taking the cat to the vet's surgery then either is acceptable because the verb is run with over as a modifier. I could run the cat to the vet's surgery - ugly but acceptable.

Columb Healy

 

[Dimandja]

>As with so much in language, context reveals all

Let's see if we can tweak this cat back to life.

Context: a car flattens a cat all over the driveway.

Can I correctly say either of the following?

1. A car ran over the cat.
2. A car ran the cat over.

 

[sleipnir214]

I think either would transmit the meaning that describes the hypothetical situation.

And I can hear myself using either sentence, although I would most likely use the first, simply because I like the my prepositional phrases to be in "preposition-object modifier-object" order.

I would use #2 only for emphasis in describing the action. But then, I've grown up hearing the southern dialect of American English. It's not uncommon here to hear a sentence like, "Damn. I ran the cat clean over."


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[KenCunningham]

In either case I would probably just say 'Good' ;-)

 

[DPlank]

Yes, both. Although I'd be more inclined to say 1, I wouldn't go for your throat if you said 2...

Cheers,
Dave

Probably the only Test Analyst on Tek-Tips

animadverto vos in Abyssus!

Take a look at Forum1393 & sign up if you'd like

 

[CajunCenturion]

I also agree that #1 is correct for the same reason as sleipnir214. I think prepositions should preceed their objects.

Good Luck
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[UniqueFD]

It seems to me:
1. emphasises 'the cat' was run over (making 'the cat' the subject and 'the car' an object?), and
2. emphasises 'the car' did the running over (making 'the car' the subject and 'the cat' an object?).

I'd love to know if I've got this right.

Tony
___________________________________________________
Reckless words pierce like a sword,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Solomon)

 

[CajunCenturion]

1. A car ran over the cat.
2. A car ran the cat over.

I think that in both sentences, 'a car' is the subject of the sentence. I can see two possible interpretations of the predicate. In one case, 'ran over' is the action verb with 'the cat' being a predicate object. For the other interpretation (my personal preference), 'ran' is the verb with 'over the cat' being a prepositional phrase with 'over' as the preposition, and 'the cat' being its object.

Regardless of your predicate interpretation, I find #1 preferable because you should neither split the action verb, nor alter the prepositional order.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[SantaMufasa]

I'm a firm believer that a preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

http://www.dasages.com

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Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.

 

[DPlank]

<slaps Dave>

You know you deserved that one, right?


Cheers,
Dave

Probably the only Test Analyst on Tek-Tips

animadverto vos in Abyssus!

Take a look at Forum1393 & sign up if you'd like

 

[SkipVought]

Bein's thet a cat has 9 lives...

if you run over the cat, it implies a one-time act.

But it seem to me, IMHO, that...

if your run the cat over, it implies, albeit somewhat weakly, that the door is open to a multiple assault, as in the woman who was arrested for running over her husband repeatedly in forward and reverse, and so, it speaks to me of...

running the cat over and over and over...

BUT, it definitely makes more difficult the SKINNING of a cat, of which, it has been demonstrated, that there is more that one way of doing. ;-)

Skip,

_{[red]Be advised:[/red]When Viscounts were guillotined just as they were disclosing where their jewels were hidden, it shows to go that you should...
Never hatchet your Counts before they chicken!}

 

[SantaMufasa]

I totally agree, Skip...As I have said previously in other threads,

There are always multiple methods by which to excoriate a feline.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

http://www.dasages.com

Do you use Oracle and live or work in Utah, USA?
Then click here to join Utah Oracle Users Group on Tek-Tips.

 

[Dimandja]

Skip, star for making me laugh out loud... in the office.

Now, I need to explain to my boss why I think "having our network go down" (it just did), is hysterically funny.