Born and raised in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Educated at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, England. Living in the foothills of Mount Etna since 1982 and teaching English at Catania University since 1987.
View all posts by Tony
5 thoughts on “Humour inglese: How old?”
Good morning, dear prof
Today I’m finding out that the meaning of ” To go on ” is “succedere”, while I knew that its meaning were only “continuare, proseguire”. If at the end of the sentence you showed it had been written “… what is happening”, would the sentence have the same meaning? In other words can both verbs ” to happen or to go on” be used indifferendly or not?
Thank you so much for your answer. So if I understand correctly, they can be indiferently used only in the context where the meaning is “accadere, succedere”. Otherwise, out of this context, ” to go on” means “continuare”. Is that so?
Not totally. For example if you say, “A strange thing happened to me yesterday” then you can’t replace it with “A strange thing went on to me yesterday.” I would limit it to sentences such as “What’s going on?”, “Something strange is going on over there.” It’s more like “avere luogo.”
Ingliando 
Good morning, dear prof
Today I’m finding out that the meaning of ” To go on ” is “succedere”, while I knew that its meaning were only “continuare, proseguire”. If at the end of the sentence you showed it had been written “… what is happening”, would the sentence have the same meaning? In other words can both verbs ” to happen or to go on” be used indifferendly or not?
LikeLike
Yes, in this kind of context the meaning is identical.
N.B. Today I (have) found out…
LikeLike
Thank you so much for your answer. So if I understand correctly, they can be indiferently used only in the context where the meaning is “accadere, succedere”. Otherwise, out of this context, ” to go on” means “continuare”. Is that so?
LikeLike
Not totally. For example if you say, “A strange thing happened to me yesterday” then you can’t replace it with “A strange thing went on to me yesterday.” I would limit it to sentences such as “What’s going on?”, “Something strange is going on over there.” It’s more like “avere luogo.”
LikeLike
All clear, thank you prof
LikeLike