question about "only to be done" and "being always done"
Hello,

Here are three sentences.

1. The three men tried many times to sneak across the border into the neighboring country, only to be captured by the police each time.
2. The three men tried many times to sneak across the border into the neighboring country, being always captured by the police each time.
3. The three men tried many times to sneak across the border into the neighboring country, unfortunately captured by the police each time.

I am sure that the first sentence is correct, and the third one is wrong. And I suppose that the second sentence might be OK, but I don't konw why. Could you please explain that?

Thank you.

Question

question about "only to be done" and "being always done"
Hello,

Here are three sentences.

1. The three men tried many times to sneak across the border into the neighboring country,  only to be captured by the police each time.
2. The three men tried many times to sneak across the border into the neighboring country,  being always captured by the police each time.
3. The three men tried many times to sneak across the border into the neighboring country,  unfortunately captured by the police each time.

I am sure that the first sentence is correct, and the third one is wrong. And I suppose that the second sentence might be OK, but I don't konw why. Could you please explain that?

Thank you.

Answer

I agree with John, 1 is fine and his correction of 2 is also good, however 3 is not correct. You could say "The three men tried many times to sneak across the border into the neighboring country,  unfortunately being always captured by the police " " each time" is redundant because "being always" covers the meaning of " each time"

Answer

1 and 3 are fine, but 2 sounds awkward to a native speaker, so switch the positioning of always and being. Always is not as moveable as other adverbs and generally goes before the verb it is modifying

Answers · 2

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