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In a test I had earlier, there was a rewrite section where there was this sentence :

John told Gary he would wash his car

Here is my rewrite :

John offered his help in washing the car for Gary

According to my teacher, here is what it is supposed to be :

John offered to wash Gary's car

Efficiency and naturalness aside, is my sentence perfectly grammatical and does it retain most of the context ?

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  • If a sentence is awkward, unnecessarily wordy, and clumsily worded, I have trouble deeming it "perfectly grammatical." There may be no grammatical error, but your version is poorly phrased nonetheless. There are alternate wordings, but I wouldn't count yours among them.
    – J.R.
    Oct 13, 2017 at 1:39

1 Answer 1

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Is my sentence perfectly grammatical?

Yes it is.

Does it retain most of the context ?

Not really. According to you, John will help Gary wash a specific (note the word 'the') car. But it doesn't say which/whose car. On the other hand, the original sentence clearly states that it is, in fact, Gary's car. Your teacher's version also states the same.

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