Hello everyone,
I was listening to Scatterhead (Bjork - from Dancer in the Dark) and noticed these lines....
1. The time it takes a tear to fall
A heart to miss a beat
...and thought "that's not correct, it should be ==>
2. The time it takes for a tear to fall
Then I realized something.
We do say
3.It took me one hour to get there
don't we?
We would say
It takes a tear [amount of time] to fall
wouldn't we?
So my current conclusion is that both are correct (?), mean more or less the same but are derived from two different underlying structures
In 2., there is no indirect object. No mention of what or whom it takes such amount of time to fall, a tear is not directly involved in the first clause. (only in the second one)
In 1., there is an indirect object which is a tear, exactly as it is "me" in #3.
I hope I managed to make myself clear but I'm not sure.
What do you think?
Does #1 seem totally incorrect to you?
Any input appreciated
Jean-Michel
I was listening to Scatterhead (Bjork - from Dancer in the Dark) and noticed these lines....
1. The time it takes a tear to fall
A heart to miss a beat
...and thought "that's not correct, it should be ==>
2. The time it takes for a tear to fall
Then I realized something.
We do say
3.It took me one hour to get there
don't we?
We would say
It takes a tear [amount of time] to fall
wouldn't we?
So my current conclusion is that both are correct (?), mean more or less the same but are derived from two different underlying structures
In 2., there is no indirect object. No mention of what or whom it takes such amount of time to fall, a tear is not directly involved in the first clause. (only in the second one)
In 1., there is an indirect object which is a tear, exactly as it is "me" in #3.
I hope I managed to make myself clear but I'm not sure.
What do you think?
Does #1 seem totally incorrect to you?
Any input appreciated
Jean-Michel