Bruno was never 100% clear on the tenets Catholicism, but she was always LOUD and clear when she felt someone preached one thing, even wanted her to live by it, but that they didn’t live by it themselves.
But, for some reason her and Jay developed a deep caring for each other.
Every time I think I’ve figured out English grammar and syntax, I read something like “of whom you are sleeping with” and it makes me reconsider everything I thought I knew…
Feel no worries. I think I had to ask my mom which form was correct. Dan blammit if I, or most americans, couldn’t tell you which was correct.
Of course, a high percentage of those who CAN probably read this strip. :)
Well which form IS correct ?
I would have said “You have a girlfriend, whom you are sleeping with”, because you are not sleeping OF your girlfriend, or maybe even “You have a girlfriend, with whom your are sleeping”…
Of course, as a foreigner, I tend to deconstruct the sentence, and apply the rules I have learned, and rely much less on my instinct than a native speaker.
Lol! Good lord, I don’t know. Anyone? It is a totally bizarre way to write it, and I know I asked my mom on several occasions about grammar, and so i gave me the benefit of the doubt.
Now I’m totally not confident that I did. :)
Wood, as a student of a foreign language, you may not know the colloquialisms, but you know the technical rules that native speakers have never really understood. Trust your knowledge.
Chris, depending on which rules you want to follow, you can say any of these:
“Jay, you have a girlfriend with whom you are sleeping.”
“Jay, you have a girlfriend whom you are sleeping with.”
“Jay, you have a girlfriend who you are sleeping with.”
“Jay, you have a girlfriend that you are sleeping with.”
“Jay, you have a girlfriend you are sleeping with.”
But there is no “of”.
Actually, there is a lot of bad grammar in Bruno. It’s not a mistake; that’s just how the characters talk! This is the one that I always noticed, since I never encountered it in the Midwestern Plains where I grew up.
Thanks, Toby!
Good lord, now I have to decide whether to edit or not. In reading it out loud, I kinda like the mistake. And is this enough of an edit that I’m changing the content and not just cleaning it up?
Hrm.
I always just thought she was feeling super drunk and preachy. Over-correcting, like when people say “whom” but “who” was already correct.
I don’t think Jay’s religion has much to do with his personal ethics, he’s just falling back on it as an excuse. He should have the guts to say he’s not above extramarital sex, he’s just a one woman man. Or at least one at a time. I’m the same way, never cheated on a relationship once it was defined as such. Never knowingly helped a woman cheat on her relationship either. Not saying I always asked. (Sigh)