correct verbs

wounds doesn't really work in that sentence, though technically it could.

Are you an Asian student or something?

I'm Singaporean, and both a tutor and a learner because I strive to improve my English every day.

'Did' in your sentences is past tense, so 'hurt' and 'wounded' are more likely to be grammatically correct, although use of the present participle could indicate continuum.

Thanks, Tigershark.

present tense would be

Do I do something that hurts you when I twist this knife?

Do I do something that wounds when I laugh at your painting?

Thanks, Sullyfish.

Re: correct verbs


Don't both work in number 1? In number 2, 'wounds' seems slightly odd, why?, maybe because, 'wounded pride' doesn't continue.

1. Did I do something that hurt you [that one time]?

1. Did I do something that (continues to) hurts you?

2. Did I do something that wounded your pride [that one time]?

2. ?? Did I do something that woundsyour pride? ??

Many thanks, JTT.

Re: correct verbs
Did I do something that wounds your pride?

Did I do something that tends to wound your pride?



We have this "sounds odd to me" basis for making judgements a lot on here. It sounds fine to me.

It wounds people's pride when we criticise their work.

It wounds my pride to hear him criticise me.

Joe always checks Jim's figures before passing them on to the finance department, and it wounds his pride. Jim went out of the room and slammed the door. Joe ran after him, and asked, "Did I do something that wounds your pride?". "Yes", said Jim, "You checked my figures again!"

Re: correct verbs


That's a common thing among native speakers and not all that surprising, Contrext. It's easy for one's mind to seize upon one context, one meaning and miss other nuances. I have ruled out certain collocations as unidiomatic and when a context was supplied, lights went on.

It wounds people's pride when we criticise their work.

It wounds my pride to hear him criticise me.

These two examples describe the habitual/routine nature of this type of event so they aren't, to my mind comparable to YL's example.

In the scenario you set out where Joe says to Jim,

"Did I do something that wounds your pride?"

the grammar is there and the possibility is certainly there but it just doesn't sound like it would be all that common, which I must note, I myself have noted at times, doesn't exclude a certain collocation from use.