walking, going

[oothappam]

It's nice that this appeared on the group list today,as it's precisely what I've been attempting to learn for the past few days. 
My book (Live From Russia) states: Used with verbs of motion, the preposition PO + dative means "around" or "along".Idti meaning walking in one direction, and hodit meaning walking in more than one direction, random motion, a round trip, or simply naming the habit of walking.These verbs are imperfective, too, so it has to be more of a past progressive feeling, not absolute past and done with.
So, it seems to me that the sentences mean:

 1. Ona shla po ulitse. She was walking in one direction along the street.
 2. Ona khodila po ulitse.She was walking around the street, kind of wandering,looking around.
 3. Ona shla po parku.She was was walking around the park, in one direction-from one end to the other, once.This sounds like she was at the edge or one side of it, to me.
 4. Ona khodila po parku. She was walking around in the park leisurely, with no real purpose.
---
That is my VERY rudimentary understanding so far!
Nola



-----Original Message-----
>From: "Paul B. Gallagher" <paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM>
>Sent: Jul 12, 2010 10:08 AM
>To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
>Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] walking, going
>
>Svetlana Grenier wrote:
>
>> Yes, it is clear: in "shla" she was "walking down the street", "walking 
>> through the park"; in "khodila", she was "walking back and forth in the 
>> street" or "he was walking around in the park."  Of course, if you add 
>> other words (say "chasto khodila") it would mean something different.
>> At least, that's how it sounds to me!
>> 
>> Svetlana Grenier
>> 
>> gladney at ILLINOIS.EDU wrote:
>> 
>>> Dear Russian Speakers,
>>>
>>> Here are four scenarios:
>>>
>>> 1. Ona shla po ulitse.
>>>
>>> 2. Ona khodila po ulitse.
>>>
>>> 3. Ona shla po parku.
>>>
>>> 4. Ona khodil po parku.
>>>
>>> Is it clear in each case what is going on?
>
>In every case, there are inherent ambiguities that the reader must fill 
>in as the context warrants, or leave open if he doesn't care. Is the 
>motion linear, circuitous, oscillating, etc.? Is the "she" a woman or a 
>girl? Is the street broad or narrow? Was she walking on the sidewalk or 
>in the street? Some parks (typically beside streams) are long and narrow 
>-- was the motion along the length of the park?
>
>So the question can only be answered if Frank will give us a definition 
>of "clear" that suits his purpose.
>
>-- 
>War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
>--
>Paul B. Gallagher
>pbg translations, inc.
>"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
>http://pbg-translations.com
>
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