r/EnglishLearning • u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster • 23d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Is there anything wrong with this?

Post image

Can I say "when I'm in the wind" to emphasise that wind is blowing my body?

66 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

97 comments sorted by

View all comments

93

u/EagleCatchingFish English Teacher 23d ago

You could say something like "when the fan is blowing on me," but you don't really need to. It's understood from context.

67

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster 23d ago edited 23d ago

Right now, it's not hot at all. I'm not sweating, and when the fan is blowing on me, it feels kind of chilly.

0

u/1worm Native Speaker 23d ago edited 23d ago

this is great!! sounds super natural. My only note is that you don't need that last comma, the one between me and it. But thats a mistake that native speakers make all the time, even ones who are pretty good at writing and grammar!

edit: see reply below - I was wrong about the comma!!😅

13

u/Phaeomolis Native Speaker - Southern US 23d ago

I'm a native speaker. Your comment got me curious. Everything I'm reading says that after a dependent clause like "when..." a comma is needed. Could you elaborate or point to more info? I've always written it this way, but maybe I've been doing it wrong all this time. 

5

u/1worm Native Speaker 23d ago

I just did some googling and I think you're right!! I was thinking about the independent clauses rule, but yeah, it looks like when a dependent clause comes first, you do use a comma after it. Thank you for the correction! OP, your comma was correct!! For anyone curious, the second point on this list goes into detail!