Question

Grammar Check! "I never said she stole my money." Did you know that this sentence changes its meaning depending on which word you stress? Practice your grammar skills by stressing each word in the sentence; notice how the part of speech stressed affects the meaning of the sentence. Which word did you stress first? What meaning does that sentence have? Which word is the most awkward for you to stress? What meaning does THAT sentence have? For your peer responses this week, comment on at least two of your fellow learner's posts as to how you feel about their interpretation, and whether you feel similarly or differently.

Answer 1

Simply put, the phrase can be interpreted to mean that a person has never said that their money was stolen by the girl / woman. However, this phrase can have seven different meanings, depending on the word we stress. We will explain all of them separately. “I never said she stole my money” When the focus is on “me,” the person means that he never said they stole their money. On the contrary, someone else said it and that person tacitly agreed with him.

“I never said she stole my money” If the focus is on “Never,” the person may be trying to imply that the idea of ​​someone stealing money is downright scandalous. In other words, they deny blaming the girl / woman at all for stealing money. “I never said she stole my money” When the focus is on the word “he said,” a person might be implicitly indicating that he stole his money, but he never said it on those terms. In other words, there is no way to prove the person accused them of stealing money. “I never said she stole my money” if the person confirms “it” she states that she never suggested that the girl / woman stole their money. Instead, they try to explain that someone stole their money but not necessarily it. “I never said she stole my money” When the person insisted on the word “stolen,” she was implying that she never thought about her girl / woman's stolen money. On the contrary, she was running out of money and she was the one who had it but could be borrowed. “I've never said she stole my money” When the emphasis is on the word “mine,” a person considers the stolen money rather than his own. So when they said these words, they were trying to say that they had never said their money had been stolen, rather they were referring to the money that someone else had stolen. “I have never said it stolen my money” If a person confirms “the money” then he tries to say that it is not the stolen money. In other words, they were not saying that the girl / woman stole their money, but something else. The person might be trying to say that he stole items that cost him money to replace. As we can see, there are many different ways to understand this phrase. A simple procedure to change the dialect can completely change the implicit meaning of a speaker or writer. The important point to remember is that the true meaning of a sentence is also expressed through the distinct word (s). It's not just underlined words. In more complex sentences that use punctuation, placing a comma or two periods can also dramatically change the meaning of a sentence.