Alexander Koryagin:

If I talk about myself, can I say: "I drained Jim
everything I knew about his wife's love affair." ;-)

Observe that Dallas had an "of" before the second
object -- to drain somebody of something. Does a plane
really "drain" excessive fuel before landing? Maybe they
dump it?

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* Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi, Anton Shepelev! -> Alexander Koryagin
I read your message from 13.07.2020 12:14

If I talk about myself, can I say: "I drained Jim everything I
knew about his wife's love affair." ;-)

Observe that Dallas had an "of" before the second object -- to
drain somebody of something. Does a plane really "drain" excessive
fuel before landing? Maybe they dump it?

I guess you are right. "Drain" implies a flow -- there is the word "drainage", not dumping. But when a plain dumps its fuel the fuel looks like aerosol.

Bye, Anton!
Alexander Koryagin
english_tutor 2020

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* Origin: nntps://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)

Hi Alexander -- on Jul 13 2020 at 10:03, you wrote:

If I talk about myself, can I say:
"I drained Jim everything I knew about his wife's love affair."
;-)

You can -- I wouldn't -- it's not wrong, just....unusual!

Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/NT 1.30+
* Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)

Hi Anton -- on Jul 13 2020 at 22:50, you wrote:

If I talk about myself, can I say: "I drained Jim
everything I knew about his wife's love affair." ;-)

You can -- I wouldn't -- it's not wrong,
just....unusual!

I am sure it is wrong without an "of" before "everything."

Definitely wrong. My original had the "of"; your quote above seems to
have omitted it.

Possible amendments:

a. I drained Jim of everything *he* knew about his wife's
love affair.

b. I drained from Jim everything *he* knew about...

c. I let Jim drain me of everything I knew about...

d. I divulged to Jim everything I knew about...
(now that's more like dumping!)

"drain" seems to imply a certain effort on the part of the
receiver (e.g. a vampyre), unless it verb is used in the
narrow technical sense of the operation of a drainage
system.

All These amendents are valid, but apart from d, the use of "drain"
would be unusual. Divulged, imo, has more of a sense of secrecy about
it, as if you knew you really shouldn't have been telling that to Jim.



Cheers... Dallas

--- timEd/NT 1.30+
* Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)

Hi, Dallas! Recently you wrote in a message to Anton Shepelev:

If I talk about myself, can I say: "I drained Jim
everything I knew about his wife's love affair." ;-)

You can -- I wouldn't -- it's not wrong,
just....unusual!

I am sure it is wrong without an "of" before "everything."

Definitely wrong. My original had the "of"; your quote
above seems to have omitted it.

In Alexander's message, as we received it here, the "of" was left out. I figure Anton quoted Alexander's words correctly as he saw them. :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)