Thread: could you explain, plz.

Could you explain (put in other words) the following sentence:
"Anyone forced through biological circumstances beyond their control to share the dinner table with sufferer hoped that he or she would get over it as quickly as possible"
????


Also I didnt get this red sentence:

you got married and lived happily ever after. There was no mention in the "literature" of dirty dishes, infidelity and quarreling. Similary, after one became a grown-up one was. Simply was

Thanks in adv. !!!

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Could you explain (put in other words) the following sentence:
"Anyone forced through biological circumstances beyond their control to share the dinner table with sufferer hoped that he or she would get over it as quickly as possible"
????


Also I didnt get this red sentence:

you got married and lived happily ever after. There was no mention in the "literature" of dirty dishes, infidelity and quarreling. Similary, after one became a grown-up one was. Simply was

Thanks in adv. !!!

"with the/a sufferer" ?? - the sentence is very strange without an article. Actually, the sentence is pretty strange full stop.

I'll give it a try - I'll put in some punctuation marks first (not gramatically correct!!!), maybe you'll understand it yourself then :
"Anyone forced, through biological circumstances beyond their control, to share the dinner table with sufferer, hoped that he or she would get over it, as quickly as possible"

So:
[color=blue]Any person who h

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Could you explain (put in other words) the following sentence:
"Anyone forced through biological circumstances beyond their control to share the dinner table with sufferer hoped that he or she would get over it as quickly as possible"
????

Let me take a crack at it. As is, the sentence sounds like a slightly shortened version of a proper sentence without an article before "sufferer." It's just like the statement - "Doctor gave patient viagra" lol! It would be more proper to say - "The doctor gave the patient viagra." The former statement is a shortened version, usually seen on notes and less formal communications. So, more properly, the sentence should be - "Anyone forced through biological circumstances beyond his or her control to share the dinner table with a sufferer hoped that he or she would get over it as quickly as possible."

As to the meaning,

"Anyone forced through biological circumstances beyond their control..." i.e. relatives. As a saying goes, "You choose your friends, but not your relatives."

"to share dinner with sufferer..." i.e. to share dinner with someone suffering from something. As is, it sounds like the ailment that the sufferer is suffering from was mentioned previously.

"hoped that he or she would get over it as quickly as possible." This has two possible meanings. If the statement is not meant in jest, the meaning would be that the one sharing the dinner table with a relative suffering from something hopes that the sufferer would get over his or her ailment as soon as possible. If it is meant in jest, the other possible meaning would be that the one sharing the dinner table with a relative hopes the he or she would get over it quickly - "it" being having to share the dinner table with a relative suffering from something and complaining about it all the time.

The first part of the sentence suggests that the sentence might be partly meant in jest. "Anyone forced through biological circumstances beyond their control to share dinner..." has the sound of a statement said in jest.

In other words, "Somebody forced to have dinner with a relative suffering from an ailment hopes the relative gets over his or her ailment as soon as possible."

or, "Somebody forced to have dinner with a relative suffering from an ailment hopes to get over the dinner as soon as possible." - implying that he or she wants to get dinner over with as soon as possible in order to stop hearing annoying complaints from his or her relative about all the things that the relative is suffering from.

Also I didnt get this red sentence:

you got married and lived happily ever after. There was no mention in the "literature" of dirty dishes, infidelity and quarreling. Similary, after one became a grown-up one was. Simply was

Thanks in adv. !!!

I think being grown up is compared to being married in the above. People associate marriage with living happily ever after. However, there is no mention of the horrors, so to speak, of marriage, i.e. dirty dishes, infidelity, and quarrels. Similarly, when one is young, one associates being grown up with everything good. However, when one has grown up, one realises the horror of being a grown up, which is that - "one was" i.e one is a grown up and has lost the joys of youth, and "Simply was." i.e. there is nothing special about being grown up after all, just like there is nothing special about being married after all and one doesn't really live happily ever after, but has to live with all the other horrible things about marriage. It's a bit philosophical, yes.

Similary, after one became a grown-up one was. Simply was

'Was' can probably be replaced with 'existed' here.

There is that famous notion of the philosopher Rene Descartes:

"I think therefore I am" = "Я мыслю, следовательно, существую"



Also, remember this?

"To be or not to be - that is the question."

Thank you very much for your thorough answers!!!

Could you also check the following sentences:

Ex. Please, shoose the proper word

(1. to occur -- to chance -- to happen -- to befall)

1.1 It was the worst thing that have ever happened to him
1.2 Storms often occur in this part od ocean in winter
1.3 This particular conversation was reported to have occured yesterday at 5 p.m.
1.4 He wondered how they could justify his new relatioship to his family, should they chance to hear about it
1.5 The day chanced to fall on the anniversary of his wife's death
1.6 She realised that some crushing misadvencure had befallen her son
1.7 All memorable events happen in morning time and in a morning atmosphere
1.8 It's so chanced that they had met before

(2. to go -- to leave -- to quit -- to clear out -- to withdraw -- to depart -- to retire)

2.1 The police are after you, you'd better clear out
2.2 In accordance with the old English custom the ladies retire after dinner
2.3 When it was time for him to go, she said she would go too
2.4 In silence the widow withdrew
2.5 Aunt Polly was withdrawing from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eyes
2.6 He repeated his apologies and left the room
2.7 He left the laboratory with a sigh of relief
2.8 He tried many jobs but quit all of them
2.9 What age do women retire in England
2.10 The UN troops were eventually departed from the country

Originally Posted by Chuvak

(1. to occur -- to chance -- to happen -- to befall)

1.1 It was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.
1.2 Storms often occur in this part of the ocean in winter.
1.3 This particular conversation was reported to have occured yesterday at 5 p.m.
1.4 He wondered how they could justify his new relationship to his family, should they happen to hear about it
1.5 The day happened to fall on the anniversary of his wife's death
1.6 She realized that some crushing misadventure had befallen her son
1.7 All memorable events happen in morning time and in a morning atmosphere
1.8 It's so happened that they had met before

(2. to go -- to leave -- to quit -- to clear out -- to withdraw -- to depart -- to retire)

2.1 The police are after you, you'd better leave
2.2 In accordance with the old English custom, ladies retire after dinner
2.3 When it was time for him to go, she said she would go too
2.4 In silence the widow departed
2.5 Aunt Polly was leaving the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eyes
2.6 He repeated his apologies and left the room
2.7 He left the laboratory with a sigh of relief
2.8 He tried many jobs but quit all of them
2.9 What age do women retire in England
2.10 The UN troops were eventually departed from the country

The bolded words are all corrections. There are a few more minor corrections that I left out too. On a few of them, where I replaced words with a conjugation of "to leave" it is because it is more common to use this verb in place of the other.

2.10 The UN troops were eventually withdrawn from the country

Я думаю, что в некоторых из этих предложений, правильное слово зависит от контекста.

Насчет предложения 2.4 (два с четырьмя десятыми?), в этом случае, я думаю, что правильное слово - это withdrew.

Originally Posted by basurero

Я думаю, что в некоторых из этих предложений_правильное слово зависит от контекста.

Насчет предложения 2.4 (два с четырьмя десятыми?)__я думаю, что правильное слово - это withdrew.

When "2.4" is a number of a sentence or a clause in a document etc, you pronounce it "два четыре". When it is just a number in some calculations you pronounce it "две целых четыре десятых". That's the official rule. But in spoken language you can shorten it to "два и четыре" or "два точка четыре".

Originally Posted by basurero

Я думаю, что в некоторых из этих предложений, правильное слово зависит от контекста.

Насчет предложения 2.4 (два с четырьмя десятыми?), в этом случае, я думаю, что правильное слово - это withdrew.

Тогда уж withdraw. А то получается что-то среднее между инфинитивом и причастием 2.

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

Originally Posted by basurero

Я думаю, что в некоторых из этих предложений, правильное слово зависит от контекста.

Насчет предложения 2.4 (два с четырьмя десятыми?), в этом случае, я думаю, что правильное слово - это withdrew.

Тогда уж withdraw. А то получается что-то среднее между инфинитивом и причастием 2.

Eh?

Don't mind me - you were right. I just looked at the previous post: 2.10 The UN troops were eventually withdrawn from the country and thought you suggested using withdrew in that sentence. Sorry for this

Originally Posted by Shido

Originally Posted by Chuvak

1.3 This particular conversation was reported to have occured yesterday at 5 p.m.

It should be occurred, not occured. Hope it's not too late!

Belka