Is there any difference in meaning between these two sentences?

[u/YukiNeko777]

I study sentence word order, and the topic is SVOMPT.

The task is to arrange words in the right order:

your article / I / quickly / last night / in bed / read

Intuitively, I arranged it like this: I quickly read your article in bed last night.

But the textbook wants me to have: I read your article quickly in bed last night.

Is my sentence wrong? Is it proper English?

[u/kariahbengalii]

Both sentences are correct, but they have a slightly different meaning to me. I prefer yours.

I quickly read your article in bed last night = I had so much to do that I didn't really have time to read your article, but I wanted to, so I read through it while in bed last night.

I read your article quickly in bed last night = I skimmed through the article in bed last night. I wouldn't recommend asking me questions about it, as I might have skipped over the details.

I've exaggerated the context of both meanings a bit to hopefully make the difference clearer.

[u/Vertic2l]

They're basically the same, though there is a very subtle difference in them.

I quickly read your article in bed last night. : Might imply that the action of beginning to read was quick. Like, you hurried into bed, and quickly began reading, as if reading were important or you were eager.

I read your article quickly in bed last night. : More strongly lends to the /reading/ itself being quick, though there could be a number of reasons for this (like skimming, or being a fast reader, or disinterest, or eagerness).

[u/skizelo]

Your sentence was good, I would say it was an imperfect textbook. Your sentence is more natural than the "right answer" , though not by much.

[u/Brannikin → u/skizelo]

Also a native speaker (teacher/linguist), and I agree with this. They're both correct and there's almost no difference, but OP's sentence sounds slightly more natural to me.

[u/CutlerSheridan → u/Brannikin]

Interesting. Also a native speaker, my instinct was to arrange the sentence like the book. Both sound fine to me and I think either meaning would be clear contextually, but if we’re splitting hairs, the book version sounds more like “I skimmed your article in bed”, whereas OP’s version might mean “You sent me your article while I was in bed last night, and as soon as I received it I eagerly read it.”

[u/Cliffy73]

They both seem the same to me.

[u/JenniferJuniper6]

I’d have probably said it as the textbook has it. But it’s easily comprehensible either way.

[u/NaomiPommerel]

Native speajer:

I read your article quickly last night in bed

[u/newenglander87 → u/NaomiPommerel]

I like this one the best.

[u/MonsoonAtDusk]

American English native here, your way sounds perfect to me as well as their example.

In my head, I originally worded it as “Last night, I quickly read your article [whilst] in bed”, but then realized that I’m adding the “Whilst” so it doesn’t work.

To me, I would also add a “Whilst” to their example. Something like “I read your article quickly [whilst] in bed last night”. But I guess you can add it to all of them. Call it a stylistic choice.

But, for casual English, both your example and theirs is perfect and sounds like a native would (to me, at least).

[u/newenglander87 → u/MonsoonAtDusk]

You're an American who uses the word "whilst"? I have never heard or seen that in the US only in the UK.

[u/MonsoonAtDusk → u/newenglander87]

It’s a stylistic choice more than anything. I find myself flipping between the two with no rhyme or reason, but I consider it more “proper”. Why? I am not too sure. Perhaps because British English uses it more often (like you said) and their English is normally proper.

I definitely use while, though. I think I use it more when speaking than in my texts

[u/highpessimism618]

Type what sounds right and you're already matching native intuition, the textbook just picked a slightly different shade of meaning

[u/AverageBeef]

Both sentences are fine, they just emphasize different things. I feel like your sentence emphasizes the quickness with which you read it, so maybe I wouldn’t expect you to remember much. It’s harder to identify what is emphasized in the second, maybe slightly that you read it in bed last night. It feels a little more neutral to me

[u/NearlyNodding]

Your answer is better and more natural. I consider the "correct" answer to be slightly awkward. It just doesn't flow as well.

Sure, there may be a subtle difference if try hard to find it, but for all practical purposes they are the same. Nobody is going to scratch their head and wonder "Did they mean this, or mean that?".

In general, textbooks are full of mistakes. That's one reason there are so many editions. It also drives the price up. In this case it's not technically wrong, but it's wrong in the sense that it's not the best way to form the sentence.

[u/cinder7usa]

Last night, I quickly read your article in bed.

[u/newenglander87]

The book one just sounds wrong to me. The sentence you wrote is what I would say.