Search from various English teachers...
kiran
when do we say "you must've cost a fortune" ?
i think now i got it .actually i heard this sentence in a serial (two and a half men)actually i found it unusual too .i would like to explain that scene here: the man ( the name of that character ? i forgot) stole diamond earings of his first wife to offer as a gift to his girlfriend on her birthday so when he gave the present to his girlfriend his girlfriend uttered this sentence with amazement and happiness .
Aug 11, 2011 9:36 AM
Answers · 8
I don't know. Can you give us some tips? This is a very unusual expression.
August 11, 2011
Actually, you would never say that. It is grammatically correct, but I can't think of a reasonable situation where you would say it. You are saying the the person is very expensive!
Perhaps you mean:
"You must have spent a fortune!" (When somebody has spent a lot of money)
or
"That must have cost a fortune!" (When something is very expensive)
August 11, 2011
Sorry, I got this wrong. I thought you were talking about normal conversation. "Two and a half Men" uses absurd and outrageous humor (quite effectively, I might add.) If I'd known where it came from, I wouldn't have ruled it out.
I was thinking of a situation where you might refer to a person in this context.
Consider a rich old man who has a very young girlfriend for whom he must buy expensive presents to keep.
"She must have cost a fortune." could actually be used.
One point - if the girlfriend made the statement, she could have been talking to the diamonds. I'd have to see the episode.
August 11, 2011
She said:
THEY must have cost you a fortune.
Listen again.
August 11, 2011
I think I saw that episode.
Was it when Charlie said to a girl that he thought had nice boobs, "you must've [must have] cost a fortune"?
I think he meant that her boob job cost a lot of money, therefore it looks like (is obvious) that she was had a lot of work done on her to make her look that good.
It is a sarcastic remark made to mock that person (make a joke of). Not usually a good thing to make fun of a person (make a joke about someone's appearance).
August 11, 2011
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kiran
Language Skills
English, Urdu
Learning Language
English
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