Is my sentence understandable and correct?

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar, English Language, Learning English
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Yesterday I happened to bump into a friend of mine one of whose friend I have very well known even before I knew him.

I'm confused, not sure if my sentence above is grammatical and understandable to the readers.

If not, could you please point out where in the sentence is wrong and right it to right form.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 6 • Views: 3,844 • Replies: 11

No top replies

@imsak,

Technically Im, we say "…one of whose friends….," though you might replace "have" by "had"

While "…very well known…" is awkward, as is using "friend" twice, and "…of mine…" is superfluous; maybe even "happened to". We'd be more likely to say something like

"Yesterday I bumped into a friend who I subsequently learned was the acquaintance of an even earlier buddy"

…depending of course on the exact circumstances

0 Replies

@imsak,

I 'd do it this way:

DAVID wrote:

Yesterday, I happened to bump into a friend of mine
one of whose friends I have known very well, even before I knew him.

0 Replies

Thanks to all. Your answer is of very much help to me.

What I want to convey is:

Yesterday, I bumped into A at the market. A is my friend. A has some friends. One of A's friends is B. I have known B very well even before I knew A.

2 Replies

@imsak,

David's suggestion works fine for that, even although in grammatical terms there is some doubt who the "him" at the end refers to...but from a commonsense standpoint, it's fine.

0 Replies

@imsak,

Yesterday, I bumped into A at the market. A is my friend. A has some friends. One of A's friends is B. I have known B very well even before I knew A.

---------

Yesterday, I bumped into a friend, A, at the market. A has a friend, B, that I knew even before I knew A.

1 Reply

@imsak,

This is simpler and easier:

DAVID wrote:

Yesterday, I bumped into a friend of mine
one of whose friends I have known very well, even before I knew him.

0 Replies

I like:

Yesterday, I bumped into my friend Herb at the market. One of Herb's other friends is Jack. I have known Jack for even longer than I have known Herb.

1 Reply

@JTT,

It does sound better with actual names.

Yesterday, I bumped into a friend, Adam, at the market. Adam has a friend, Bob, that I knew even before I knew Adam.

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

I like:

Yesterday, I bumped into my friend Herb at the market.
One of Herb's other friends is Jack. I have known Jack for even longer than I have known Herb.

That 's nice. I 'd leave out the word: for.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

Frank Apisa wrote:

I like:

Yesterday, I bumped into my friend Herb at the market.
One of Herb's other friends is Jack. I have known Jack for even longer than I have known Herb.

That 's nice. I 'd leave out the word: for.

Agreed!

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

As it is an option, it would depend. With FOR, it is more emphatic.

0 Replies

Is my sentence understandable and correct?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know