can't help crying - WordReference Forums

I can't help crying as I sliced the onion. The above is an instance from our English textbook, and I wonder whether it's "crying" or just ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. can'thelpcrying Threadstarter quietdandelion Startdate Jun19,2007 quietdandelion Banned Homesweethome Formosa/Chinese Ican'thelpcryingasIslicedtheonion. TheaboveisaninstancefromourEnglishtextbook,andIwonderwhetherit's"crying"orjust"sheddingtears"inthecontext.Ifneither,howwouldyousayit?Thanks.   T tepatria SeniorMember Onondaga,Ontario CanadianEnglish "Icouldn'thelpcryingasIslicedtheonion." or "Ican'thelpcryingasIsliceonions." Tearscometoyoureyesasyousliceonions.Thereisnoemotion,justthephysicalactofsheddingtears. Wealsosay"Slicingonionsmakesmyeyeswater."   T ThomasTompion MemberEmeritus SouthernEngland English-England quietdandelionsaid: Ican'thelpcryingasIslicedtheonion. TheaboveisaninstancefromourEnglishtextbook,andIwonderwhetherit's"crying"orjust"sheddingtears"inthecontext.Ifneither,howwouldyousayit?Thanks. Clicktoexpand... WesayIcouldn'thelpmyeyesrunning(orwatering)asIslicedtheonion(thesequenceoftensesisincorrectinyoursentence,QuietOne).Tocryusuallymeanstoweep,thoughitcanmeantoshout,particularlyintocryout,whichnevermeanstoweep.   quietdandelion Banned Homesweethome Formosa/Chinese Thanks,tepatriaandThomas,andsorryforthetypo--itshouldbe"Icouldn'thelp..." Yourdifferentversionssoundperfecttome.   Silver SeniorMember Chongqing Chinese,Cantonese,Sichuandialect tepatriasaid: "Icouldn'thelpcryingasIslicedtheonion." Clicktoexpand... tepatriasaid: Wealsosay"Slicingonionsmakesmyeyeswater." Clicktoexpand... Hi, Isawapicture;it'saboutasonandafather.Howafathersacrificeshimselfforhisson.Iwasdeeplymovedandcried,canIsay: Thispicturemakesmyeyeswater. Or Ican'thelpcryingseeingthispicture. Thanksalot   UncleJack SeniorMember Cumbria,UK BritishEnglish Silverobamasaid: Hi, Isawapicture;it'saboutasonandafather.Howafathersacrificeshimselfforhisson.Iwasdeeplymovedandcried,canIsay: Thispicturemakesmyeyeswater. Or Ican'thelpcryingseeingthispicture. Thanksalot Clicktoexpand... Don'tuse"makesmyeyeswater".Thisisonlyeverusedforanon-emotionalresponse,suchaswhenchoppingonionsor,quitecommonlyinthecaseoftheseexactwords,extremepain. Ithinkyoursecondsentencemaybemissingapreposition.Itdoesnotquitesoundright,butIcannotquiteputmyfingeronit.   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top