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1 I'm always drinking like crazy when I see her. The meaning: I start drinking and after a while I see her.

2 I always drink like crazy when I see her. The meaning: At first I see her, then I start drinking.

So far so good. But when I use the same model with "go", it feels like they don't work the same way.

3 I'm always drinking like crazy when I go out. The meaning should be: I start drinking and after a while I go out. But I think it's not the right meaning.

4 I always drink like crazy when I go out. The meaning: At first I go out, then I start drinking.

Do you agree that 3 breaks the rule which is there in 1? I think that 3 means the same as 4. If it's so, can you explain why? Something to do with the verb GO?

user1425
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  • If (1) means 'Whenever I happen to see her, it's always when I am drinking heavily', I think a native speaker would express it in another way. – Kate Bunting Nov 03 '22 at 16:50
  • It's another kettle of fish – user1425 Nov 03 '22 at 17:26
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    I think OP's suggested paraphrasing for #1 (I start drinking and after a while I see her) erroneously implies that *my drinking* is what *causes* me to see her - as would be the case in, for example, I start drinking and after a while I [see pink elephants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_pink_elephants). – FumbleFingers Nov 03 '22 at 19:02
  • Well, it's another matter, whether my drinking causes me to see her or it doesn't. I don't think that it is explicitly stated. – user1425 Nov 04 '22 at 00:32

2 Answers2

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I don't think there is a rule to break.

As you say, 2 and 4 say that every time X happens, Y then happens.

Your 1 and 3 are much less clear, and to my ear much less likely to be said. I don't think they imply any specific relationship between when X and Y happen: it just says that on every occasion that X happens, Y happens over a period: it doesn't say when that is in relation to X.

I think it is for pragmatic and semantic reasons that you interpret 1 as Y starting before X, and 3 as Y starting after X.

Colin Fine
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The phrasal verb "go out" has two different meanings, and with neither definition is this sentence correct both in grammar and intended meaning.

The first meaning of "go out" is "leave the house".

The second meaning is something like, "go to entertainment venues, usually in the evening".

Because the context includes "drink like crazy", it heavily suggests the intended definition is the second one. With this definition, the meaning of Sentence 3 is roughly:

I'm always drinking like crazy whenever I party at bars and clubs.

This has an odd meaning, like I happen to already be drinking like crazy before I get there, so it feels like this is either a grammar mistake, or we've chosen the wrong definition.

With the first definition, the sentence means:

Whenever I leave home (for any reason), I'm always drinking like crazy.

Here, the grammar is good, but it doesn't make sense that you'd drink heavily before you leave home each time, unless you have severe anxiety issues about leaving home and need the alcohol to survive the experience.

gotube
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  • "Every Saturday night when I go out I'm drinking like crazy." - logically I drink after leaving my place, but grammatically it sounds like I start drinking before leaving my place. What do you think? – user1425 Nov 03 '22 at 17:28
  • @user1425 Same exact answer. The context of Saturday night and drinking leads my brain to try the "entertainment" definition first, but the grammar simply doesn't make sense, so then I try the "leave my house" definition and the grammar is good, but the meaning is silly. It's just a bad sentence that happens to be bad in two different ways. – gotube Nov 03 '22 at 17:53
  • How can it be fixed? Every Saturday night when I go out I drink like crazy. – user1425 Nov 03 '22 at 18:03
  • @user1425 Perfect! – gotube Nov 03 '22 at 18:06