Según
Hola!
No estoy seguro del uso de 'según'.
El coche es azul, según mi amigo The car is blue, according to my friend.
Pero, a veces, veo: El coche es azul, según informó mi amigo.
Por qué es 'según' necesario en la segunda frase? Me parece innecesario.
Por favor, explícame cómo la frase funciona.
Gracias por su ayuda, Martyn.
10 Answers
La diferencia no es demasiado importante. "El coche es azul, informó mi amigo" pone al amigo en primer plano y hace que la declaración sobre el coche suene como algo absoluto, mientras que en "según (informó) mi amigo", lo único que hacemos es aclarar que la declaración es lo que dijo nuestro amigo, y no necesariamente lo que uno piensa.
Por cierto, aunque no es incorrecto (fíjate que uso indicativo aquí), "explícame cómo funciona la frase funciona" suena raro. Es más normal decir "cómo funciona la frase".
Site Admin - you have been found wanting.
HI Martyn, we observe and if it seems fit we intervene. So please refrain from trying to tell us what to do.
I want to clear a few things up.
I didn't ask Lazarus to ignore incorrect advice on grammar, I asked him to ignore Ikpuede - Marianne, that's a huge difference - and I asked that in the context of them ignoring each other, as they will clearly never see eye-to-eye.
I see that the site admin have removed the comments that led me to write that comment, thereby making it difficult to see why I did, but those of us who actually saw them know that there was simply no point them engaging with each other in that way.
There was no point because Ikpuede just does not want to learn from Lazarus, however right he may be.
It's blatantly obvious he hasn't come here as a student wishing to learn or improve, so he should not be treated like a student.
This issue cannot be settled in terms of RAE versus slang - they both want the last word, and neither will let the other have it, and we go merrily round the mulberry bush all over again.
If Lazarus does have the site operator's authority then it is up to him to bring this silly, weekend-long duel to an end, so the rest of us can get on with learning something, and correcting Ikpuede syllable by syllable will not bring anything to an end. All that does is inflame the situation, screw up yet another thread which was supposed to be a question about grammar, and worst of all set up another encounter between them in the future, thereby ruining the experience for everyone else.
As far as correcting other people go, of course Lazarus should correct them, for all the reasons Marianne suggests - provided he does so responsibly and tactfully - and we have all benefitted from his posts over time. But trying to make Ikpuede see he's wrong is pointless, because he hasn't come here looking for that.
I am so fed up with the rubbish in the forums this weekend.
Lazarus - please try to find another way to handle this, as the current one clearly isn't working.
Site Admin - you have been found wanting.
I have opened this thread just to answer Martyn’s comment “Site Admin – you have been found wanting”. As Heidi has already said we observe first to see if any problems can be sorted amicably between the members themselves. When I saw that this was not going to happen, particularly with one member championing a crusade to convert us all to speak slang and posting crude slang material I acted. Do you really think it was your comment “Please, can't you two just agree to ignore each other” that resolved the situation? No, it was my intervention. I am not prepared to tell you what I did but suffice it to say, up to now it has been resolved. So please in future do not tell us we were found wanting when that wasn’t the case. If you have any grievances, do not air them on the open forum but contact us as Heidi has suggested.
As it appears, the question has been answered. If you wish to make any comment on administrators's decisions , please do so by e-mail or PM.
this thread is closed.
If I were asking how to write or say a phrase, I might be interested in the more colloquial version, but I'm predominantly interested in the standard version.
But this was a question on formal grammar, so it's the formal answer I'm looking for, so thanks to Lazarus.
Please, can't you two just agree to ignore each other? This perpetual tit-for-tat isn't getting anyone anwhere, least of all we learners who come here looking for answers.
This thread now has eight 'answers', only one of which pertains to the question!
Lazarus has the authority, given to him by the site creator, to edit, change or report on anything he thinks is incorrect. He is simply doing what his remit allows him to do.
Lkpuede: Please, do not think that any of us are attacking or belittling you. We understand that you grew up with Spanish, and you are probably a good source for slang and colloquial expressions. We are just trying to say that most people come here with questions about Spanish grammar, and we should leave those questions up to the learned grammarians, like Lazarus.
That seems to be the problem. How can Lazarus simply ignore horrible, incorrect advice on grammar, spelling, punctuation ? Wrong answers given by a self-proclaimed "native speaker" can really do some damage to students beginning to learn Spanish.
I agree.
Martyn said:
This perpetual tit-for-tat isn't getting anyone anwhere, least of all we learners who come here looking for answers
That seems to be the problem. How can Lazarus simply ignore horrible, incorrect advice on grammar, spelling, punctuation ? Wrong answers given by a self-proclaimed "native speaker" can really do some damage to students beginning to learn Spanish.
Muchas gracias por su respuesta.
Sadly, I can't find an example in 'El País' today of what gives me the problem with 'según'. But sometimes the sentence seems to read like, "xyz happened today according to reported the police," where either "according to the police" or "reported the police" makes sense, but not "according to reported" together.
When I find an example that makes it clear, I'll post it here.
