Tag: put

X Please put back when you got several cups.

Tim says:

The first part of this sentence is a bit puzzling. Put what back? “Put” should always have a direct object (直接目的語); of course, in this case, that would be “cups”.

“When” indicates that taking too many cups is something that is to be expected, as if it happens every time. But (hopefully) it doesn’t always happen. Since it’s just a possibility and not a certainty, we should use “if” rather than “when”.

“Got” is strange for two reasons: 1. it’s past tense, and 2. “take” would be a better verb in this case. So “if you get several cups.”

Remember, I said that we need to say “please put the cups back” because a direct object is necessary with “put”? But “Please put the cups back if you take too many cups” is not a good sentence; it has “cups” in it twice. If we want to change one to a pronoun, we could say “if you take too many of them.” But it’s a little bit shorter and smoother to switch the two parts of the sentence:

O If you take too many cups, please put them back.

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