Amy in the kindergarten by herself

[pne]

Stella told me yesterday that Vivien and she agreed that Amy was ready to stay in the kindergarten by herself for a while already.

So this morning, I brought her to the kindergarten by myself and stayed there for a quarter of an hour or so (until Kristin came, so Amy wouldn't be the only child), then I left when Kristin's father did.

Amy seemed to be fine with that; she was sitting on a bench with Vivien and having a book read to her. Stella will then be along later to pick her up.

Comments

[node-ue.livejournal.com]

They grow up so fast!

germanism

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

"I brought her to the kindergarten"

And I thought you'd learnt something. ;)
But seriously: does it bother you if I point out germanisms or ask whether something is a germanism?

Re: germanism

[pne.livejournal.com]

"I brought her to the kindergarten"

And I thought you'd learnt something. ;)

D'oh! That's right, I had made that same error before. Looks like I hadn't learned properly :)

But seriously: does it bother you if I point out germanisms or ask whether something is a germanism?

Usually not. I like looking at language and usage, including how I'm influenced by this and that. And I do try to speak "proper" English (i.e. without Germanisms).

Re: germanism

[conuly]

I would say it just that way, and I don't speak a word of German. I'm a native English speaker, too.

Re: germanism

[elgrande.livejournal.com]

Interesting. :) But perhaps you misunderstood the sentence as something different from what it was supposed to mean, namely "I took her to the kindergarten".

The point is that that bringing something somewhere is supposed to mean moving it closer to the speaker, whereas taking something means moving it further away from the speaker. The German word "bringen", however, does not make such a distinction. Given that pne does not live in the kindergarten or work there or work near there, our theory (http://pne.livejournal.com/700290.html?thread=2575490#t2575490) was that took rather than brought was correct (whereas perhaps a kindergarten teacher would be more likely to say that pne brought Amy to the kindergarten).

Do you still think that you would have used "brought" here?

Re: germanism

[tungol.livejournal.com]

To me, when they're contrasted, "took" seems slightly more natural than "brought", but it's a very slight difference and "brought" doesn't sound wrong. It wasn't unusual enough to make me notice it when I read the post.

Re: germanism

[conuly]

Yes, I would definitely have used brought. I've heard people complain about the took/brought distinction in English before, and I've always chalked it up to prescriptivism. I've never used the words that way - to me, bring and take are pretty much interchangeable.

The only part of the sentence that I would not have used is "the kindergarten" - I'd probably drop the article altogether - but that doesn't seem wrong to me either.