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Well I'm studying english and I got into an argue with my professor about a certain sentence he translated from german into english. The topic was "subjectivization", which means you pick a certain word in a sentence and make into the subject of the sentence.
Example: "It will be sunny in London today."
By using London as the subject and removing the it-dummy-subject it could be rephrased into: "London will be sunny today."
This can rarely be done in german so it sounds very confusing.
The sentence we had a debate about was really odd, though.
"Four people can sleep in this tent."
My prof rephrased that into: "This tent sleeps four people."
So, native speakers, I need your help. Does this sentence sound weird to you as well? Do you think it is grammatically correct? And most importantly, would you say that?
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
This bed fucks two people? HMMM
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I would not say it, but I do believe I have seen it used before.
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CA10835 Posts
i would never say that, but where are you learning english? different countries have different ways of saying things.
i would say either what you originally put "Four people can sleep in this tent" or "this tent fits four people" or "this is a four-person tent", something to that extent.
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its correct but i would have translated it to "this tent can sleep four people."
In real life I would probably say something like, "this tent can fit four people." since when i think of a tent i think of people chillin inside, and not necessarily sleeping in it.
But i supose the weird part is that it sounds like the Tent is the one sleeping. oh well, every language has its quirks and i think languages constantly evolve. weird phrases repeated over and over again gradually sound and become "correct".
a fine example is the double negative like in "We don't need no education.." etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative
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Yes, and advertisers use it quite often.
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I would say it's incorrect, however I'm not a native speaker, and therefore you should not give my opinion any kind of priority, as it is unadvised.
I have never seen or heard the verb 'to sleep' used as an action that is exercised over something (someone), and I believe it is logically incorrect. However there's a high chance that I could be mistaken.
WHERE IS MOLTKE
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Thank you guys so far. Summarizing it, everyone except minus_human would say this sentence is correct, but wouldn't use it and yenta says it's a common phrase. I need more input gogo 
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
thats sounds really weird to me lol O_O
but who knows. english is basically my native language but i don't look into it too far... >_>
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Austin10833 Posts
Four people can fit in this car.
This car fits four people.
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On May 16 2008 20:17 BroOd wrote:
Four people can fit in this car.
This car fits four people.
Your example is correct, but can this inversion be applied to any verb?
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and again, WHERES THE MOLTKE AT WHEN U NEED IT
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On May 16 2008 20:27 minus_human wrote:Show nested quote +On May 16 2008 20:17 BroOd wrote:
Four people can fit in this car.
This car fits four people. Your example is correct , but can this inversion be applied to any verb?
Look at infitiy21's post at the start of the thread 
Brood's example is correct though but im not sure bout the OP
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That's fucking incorrect.
Tell your professor to dive into a pile of rusty AIDS-infested needles.
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Spenguin
Australia3316 Posts
On May 16 2008 19:45 infinity21 wrote:
This bed fucks two people? HMMM
XDD
OH SO GOOD!
Yes that is weird, some people can't speak TL english.
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On May 16 2008 20:33 o3.power91 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 16 2008 20:27 minus_human wrote:On May 16 2008 20:17 BroOd wrote:
Four people can fit in this car.
This car fits four people. Your example is correct , but can this inversion be applied to any verb? Look at infitiy21's post at the start of the thread Brood's example is correct though but im not sure bout the OP
LOL I somehow managed to miss it:D
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United States24799 Posts
It's amazing how native speakers of English can [usually] say things in several different correct ways, and yet it's so difficult for us to discuss why, that is, the rules that dictate which things we say are or aren't correct. Most of us don't know crap about the actual rules ._.
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On May 16 2008 21:28 micronesia wrote:
It's amazing how native speakers of English can [usually] say things in several different correct ways, and yet it's so difficult for us to discuss why, that is, the rules that dictate which things we say are or aren't correct. Most of us don't know crap about the actual rules ._.
These rules are somewhat randomly generated by the speakers before you.
Lots of special cases and rules are only necessary for historical (read evolutionary) reasons. Languages are not streamlined like they would be if a (skilled) mathematician would have created (or redesigned) them.
Most modern languages could easily be simplified by some reforms, but that would not be very popular.
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"This tent sleeps four people." makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me.
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3861 Posts
It is grammatically correct. It may sound odd, but most adverts will use that line. I am an English teacher.
edit: I'm an American English teacher? I'm not sure if the rules apply in other English speaking countries.
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EPT
