Hello
The word 'auch' is often a part of ''concessive/indefinite conjunctions'' introducing subordinate clauses starting (in English) with ''although/whatever/whoever...' and similar - in German: was..auch, wer..auch, so sehr..auch (often with the addition of 'immer': was..auch immer...).
- was du auch tust = whatever you may do..
- so sehr er mich auch liebt = though he loves me/as much as he may love me...
- wohin er auch geht = wherever he may go (though he may go anywhere).....
In your initial and final examples (ich habe mich auch gewundert / auch so) the word 'auch' appears to retain its more usual meaning of 'also/too'
(I was also surprised / in this way, too).
Thanks a lot, the bearded man! You've helped me out again!'
But speaking of my previous and final examples
Linguee.de
translates ich habe mich auch gewundert as "I was surprised/I was rather surprised/
Dict.cc
translates auch so as "
anyway"
What's your opinion on this?
This is really ironic, since the underlined part of your sentence could be rendered as "So sehr ich mich auch bemühe" in German!
It's almost like you did it on purpose.
@BM: Sehr gute Erklärung und schöne Beispiele. Da habe ich gleich noch ein wenig Englisch bei gelernt...
"Try hard as I might" vs. "Try as hard as I might"
Is there a second "as" possible?
Why not "Trying as hard as I might"?
Because "try hard as I might" is an idiom, similar to "try
as I might/
may". I think it is possible. Compare:
"As hard as I can/As hard as I try
I'm as bad as I could be"
But again, try hard as I might is an idiom, so adding a second "as" to it would make it sound wrong, or at least for me.
