Please help me asnwer this question a. The teacher was telling me off when I laughed out loud. b. The teacher told me off when I laughed out loud. Which speaker got into trouble for laughing, a or b?

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Zoe

Please help me asnwer this question a. The teacher was telling me off when I laughed out loud. b. The teacher told me off when I laughed out loud. Which speaker got into trouble for laughing, a or b? I understand the sentence like this: The teacher told me off because I laughed out loud. However, I got a little bit confused with the sentence a. Can you tell me the difference between the two sentence and answer the question above? Thanks

Mar 21, 2015 5:19 AM

Answers · 3

In sentence B, it sounds like the teacher told you off because you laughed out loud, so they told you off shortly after. However, senence A sounds like the teacher was already telling you off (not for laughing but for something else) and that is when you laughed out loud, while he/she was in the middle of telling you off. So to answer you question, B got in trouble for laughing, A got in trouble for something else. Let me know if you have further questions.

March 21, 2015

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