1

Consider this:

I am glad that we are not going to face Germany in the WorldCup.

I think this means you already knew that you will not be playing against Germany in the WorldCup. Right?

However, if I want to rephrase this so that it sounds like I am not sure what will happen in the future and the fact that I just prefer not to face Germany. I wrote:

I hope that we are not going to face Germany in the WorldCup.

Is that correct? Does it mean the same thing?

1
  • 2
    Yes it means what you describe
    – mplungjan
    Dec 1, 2017 at 17:30

1 Answer 1

3

Both your sentences correctly convey your intended meanings.

The first sentence expresses your emotion about the occurrence of something. You must have known about it; otherwise, you wouldn't be glad that it was happening.

I'm glad that we are going to the restaurant today.

In this case, the speaker knows the event is occurring and is happy about it.


The second sentence expresses your desire for something to occur. You aren't sure that it's happening; if you did, you wouldn't be hoping that it would happen.

I hope that we are going to the restaurant today.

In this case, the speaker does not know the event is occurring but wants it to occur.


In your first sentence, the event's occurrence is definite (and the speaker is happy about it). In your second sentence, the event's occurrence is unknown (and the speaker wants it to happen).

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .