Learn English – I just want to know all these sentences are the same meaning and I can use whichever without changing meaning

sentence-construction

I just want to know all these sentences are the same meaning and I can use whichever without changing meaning.

  1. I want to have fun when I work.

  2. I want to work having fun.

  3. I want to work pleasantly.

Best Answer

The three sentences do not have the exact same meaning.

First of all, your last sentence uses pleasantly, a word much weaker than fun in that meaning. If you want to work pleasantly, the work must not be tedious, boring, but must be likable. Saying you want to work having fun is much stronger. You really want to enjoy the act of working and have the work make you happy.

So the third sentence is definitely different from the first two. Now what about the first vs. the second sentence? I think there's just a slight difference in focus/stress. In the first sentence, the focus is on having fun and not on the work. The phrase about having fun is the main part, while work modifies that phrase and gives additional information. Compare that to the second sentence, where your focus is on work and having fun is a postmodifier providing additional information.

Of course that difference is only very small and I think in most contexts, the first two sentences can be used interchangeably.

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