Friday, July 09, 2004, 19:52 GMT
The sentence in question: The waitress served me my coffee black.
What is unusual about this sentence. Is it grammatically correct?
What is unusual about this sentence. Is it grammatically correct?
|
What's unusual about this sentence?
Friday, July 09, 2004, 19:52 GMT
The sentence in question: The waitress served me my coffee black.
What is unusual about this sentence. Is it grammatically correct?
Friday, July 09, 2004, 21:15 GMT
''The waitress served me black coffee'' would be better.
Friday, July 09, 2004, 21:54 GMT
Well, I think that "coffee black" might be the name of a kind of black colour. "Black coffee" is coffee with a black colour.
This also happens with "Blue Midnight" - "Midnight Blue"
Friday, July 09, 2004, 22:01 GMT
Hmmm. Is black not a style of coffee, rather that a color? Would the sentence in question not be similar to a sentence such as "The waitress served me my steak well-done"?
And Smith, I do agree with you "black coffee" sounds better, but is the original sentence grammatically incorrect? If it is not, then what exactly is "black"?
Saturday, July 10, 2004, 05:58 GMT
I see nothing wrong with this sentence, though it sounds very colloquial.
The waitress served me my coffee black. The waitress served me my coffee with cream and sugar. It's not quite the same stress as saying "black coffee", which is a specific coffee type (black coffee, cafe au lait, etc.). It's more of stressing that that's how she served it -- *black*. Would you have less of a problem if the sentence were "The waitress served my coffee black", or "The waitress served me my black coffee"?
Sunday, July 11, 2004, 15:28 GMT
I think it's more a case of a missing bit of punctuation.
The waitress served me my coffee; black. But since the pause dissapeared when it was spoken, it wasn't written either.
Monday, July 12, 2004, 03:16 GMT
I agree with Ailian (and not Smith nor Orion). Black is how she served you your coffee. It's like the following.
"The waitress served me my coffee quickly." "The waitress served me my coffee cheerfully." "The waitress served me my coffee late." "The waitress served me my coffee in a styrofoam cup." "The waitress served me my coffee cold." "The waitress served me my coffee with cream and sugar." |