Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: to watch in amazement

"We watched in amazement at the show".
Why AT?
Kiuhnm


Not everyone watches their choice of words when they compose a sentence.
Joe from Massachusetts

 Kiuhnm
My guess is that it's a sloppy edit of a sentence that once read:
We stared in amazement at the show.
(To stare in amazement is almost a pat phrase.) The writer probably then 
realized that "staring at a show" isn't natural; "watching a show" is.
It's the kind of mistake people often make when editing without paying 
attention to peripheral qualifiers, verb/noun agreement, tense, etc.
It's wrong.
-- 
Joe/Joey da New York
English as she is spoken (and sometimes written) in the US

 It's wrong.
That sentence is part of an exercise I found online, then the first and 
the last part of the sentence were probably edited separately.
Kiuhnm


It depends on the occasion, and on which dictionary you use.
pat
 . adjective prompt but glib or unconvincing: a pat answer.
Trite or glib; superficially complete or satisfactory: A pat answer is not
going to satisfy an inquisitive audience.
Timely or opportune.
Suitable; fitting.
1 a : exactly suited to the purpose or occasion : apt
    b : suspiciously appropriate : contrived <a pat ending>
2 : learned, mastered, or memorized exactly
3 : firm, unyielding
4 : reduced to a simple or mechanical form : standard, trite <pat answers>
Joe from Massachusetts

 4 : reduced to a simple or mechanical form : standard, trite <pat answers>
I can understand why a "pat answer" is not always satisfying and 
therefore the locution "pat answer" is loaded with a negative 
connotation, but maybe "pat phrase" simply means "stock phrase" without 
any particular connotation.
Kiuhnm

 wrote in message
news:4aa7c505$0$819$4faf...@reader5.news.tin.it...
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I'll buy that.
When you said you found the original posted phrase in an on-line exercise,
was it on a site maintained by English native speakers?
Joe from Massachusetts


Maybe the author got confused with the form "to be amazed at something".
Kiuhnm

 wrote in message
news:4aa80486$0$829$4faf...@reader5.news.tin.it...

You wouldn't say "We watched in amazement the show", but rather "We watched
the show in amazement".
(Some people call this the "Throw Mama from the train a kiss" rule).
You could say "We looked in amazement at the scene" or "We looked at the
scene in amazement".
Maybe the confusion was caused by a change in word order while editing.
Joe from Massachusetts

 What is a "pat phrase"?
What it is is a poor choice of wording from me. I should have said it's a 
"standard phrase," although "pat," in some senses, approaches what I meant. 
More often it carries the other meanings that Joe from MA pointed out.
My apology.



Ok, I'll buy that. (I'm not copycatting you; I'm trying to assimilate a 
new expression!)
Kiuhnm

 My apology.
Don't worry and thank you!
Kiuhnm
P.S. Why do you refer to "English" as "she" in your signature? Is it 
some kind of joke?

):

It's a reference to a book that was published in the 1800's that was meant to 
help Portuguese-speaking people learn English. It was so badly written it was 
almost the precursor of today's computer-aided (or better: hindered) 
translation. The actual title of the book is "English as She is Spoke," 
which, in itself, should give you an idea of how bad it was.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_As_She_Is_Spoke
And thank you for asking!


 And thank you for asking!
You're welcome ;-)
Kiuhnm