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chirlu
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Use of 'es'“es” to anticipate a following clause

I'mI’m working my way through Hammer's "Practicing German grammar"Hammer’s Practicing German grammar workbook (second edition) using the "German grammar and usage"German grammar and usage textbook (fourth edition). I'mI’m in chapter three and everything is going great, more than 90% correct on all exercises. Then I got to exercise eight...eight…

Given two infinitive phrases I am to construct a main and a subordinate clause. "An“An anticipatory 'es'es should be used where usual, and included in brackets where it is optional"optional.”

Unfortunately, I cannot grasp when it'sit’s usual and when it'sit’s optional based on the information in the textbook (section 3.6.3). For example, the first three questions have the following answers:

  1. Ich habe (es) versäumt, meine Frau anzurufen.
  2. Ich habe es abgelehnt, mit ihr in die Schweiz zu fahren.
  3. Ich bedauere (es), dass Sie umsonst gekommen sind.

Based on the textbook, I cannot see why 'es'es is optional on 1 and 3, but mandatory on 2! Further, I really cannot see why 'es'es is not optionalpossible in the following answer to question 4:

  1. Ich habe schon gewusst, dass sie fließend Spanisch spricht.

despite the book indicating to me otherwise. Maybe the answer to these questions will help me understand why answers 5 and above are as they are.

Thanks

Use of 'es' to anticipate a following clause

I'm working my way through Hammer's "Practicing German grammar" workbook (second edition) using the "German grammar and usage" textbook (fourth edition). I'm in chapter three and everything is going great, more than 90% correct on all exercises. Then I got to exercise eight...

Given two infinitive phrases I am to construct a main and a subordinate clause. "An anticipatory 'es' should be used where usual, and included in brackets where it is optional".

Unfortunately, I cannot grasp when it's usual and when it's optional based on the information in the textbook (section 3.6.3). For example, the first three questions have the following answers:

  1. Ich habe (es) versäumt, meine Frau anzurufen.
  2. Ich habe es abgelehnt, mit ihr in die Schweiz zu fahren.
  3. Ich bedauere (es), dass Sie umsonst gekommen sind.

Based on the textbook, I cannot see why 'es' is optional on 1 and 3, but mandatory on 2! Further, I really cannot see why 'es' is not optional in the following answer to question:

  1. Ich habe schon gewusst, dass sie fließend Spanisch spricht.

despite the book indicating to me otherwise. Maybe the answer to these questions will help me understand why answers 5 and above are as they are.

Thanks

Use of “es” to anticipate a following clause

I’m working my way through Hammer’s Practicing German grammar workbook (second edition) using the German grammar and usage textbook (fourth edition). I’m in chapter three and everything is going great, more than 90% correct on all exercises. Then I got to exercise eight…

Given two infinitive phrases I am to construct a main and a subordinate clause. “An anticipatory es should be used where usual, and included in brackets where it is optional.”

Unfortunately, I cannot grasp when it’s usual and when it’s optional based on the information in the textbook (section 3.6.3). For example, the first three questions have the following answers:

  1. Ich habe (es) versäumt, meine Frau anzurufen.
  2. Ich habe es abgelehnt, mit ihr in die Schweiz zu fahren.
  3. Ich bedauere (es), dass Sie umsonst gekommen sind.

Based on the textbook, I cannot see why es is optional on 1 and 3, but mandatory on 2! Further, I really cannot see why es is not possible in the following answer to question 4:

  1. Ich habe schon gewusst, dass sie fließend Spanisch spricht.

despite the book indicating to me otherwise. Maybe the answer to these questions will help me understand why answers 5 and above are as they are.

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Matt
Matt
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Use of 'es' to anticipate a following clause

I'm working my way through Hammer's "Practicing German grammar" workbook (second edition) using the "German grammar and usage" textbook (fourth edition). I'm in chapter three and everything is going great, more than 90% correct on all exercises. Then I got to exercise eight...

Given two infinitive phrases I am to construct a main and a subordinate clause. "An anticipatory 'es' should be used where usual, and included in brackets where it is optional".

Unfortunately, I cannot grasp when it's usual and when it's optional based on the information in the textbook (section 3.6.3). For example, the first three questions have the following answers:

  1. Ich habe (es) versäumt, meine Frau anzurufen.
  2. Ich habe es abgelehnt, mit ihr in die Schweiz zu fahren.
  3. Ich bedauere (es), dass Sie umsonst gekommen sind.

Based on the textbook, I cannot see why 'es' is optional on 1 and 3, but mandatory on 2! Further, I really cannot see why 'es' is not optional in the following answer to question:

  1. Ich habe schon gewusst, dass sie fließend Spanisch spricht.

despite the book indicating to me otherwise. Maybe the answer to these questions will help me understand why answers 5 and above are as they are.

Thanks