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Urielwang Posted 9 years ago
Grammar
"be" or "being" in a clause from LOTR
Quote from LOTR: Two Towers, Chapter 6, The King of the Golden Hall:
"Therodan gives you leave to enter; but any weapon that you bear, 'be' it only a staff, you must leave on the threshold."
To me, in this sentence, "be it only a staff" is a clause to augment "any weapon that you bear", and it shall have a original form as "even if it is only a staff". Thus, once "if" is omitted, then "be" shall be changed into "being". Otherwise, there are two verbs without conjunction in one sentence.
I am sure that Sir. Tolkien is correct. But clearly this "be" here is beyond my grammatical knowledge.
Could anyone help?
Thank you in advance.
"Therodan gives you leave to enter; but any weapon that you bear, 'be' it only a staff, you must leave on the threshold."
To me, in this sentence, "be it only a staff" is a clause to augment "any weapon that you bear", and it shall have a original form as "even if it is only a staff". Thus, once "if" is omitted, then "be" shall be changed into "being". Otherwise, there are two verbs without conjunction in one sentence.
I am sure that Sir. Tolkien is correct. But clearly this "be" here is beyond my grammatical knowledge.
Could anyone help?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
urielwang I am sure that Sir. Tolkien is correct. Yes, he is.
- urielwang I am sure that Sir.
- Tolkien is correct.
- Yes, he is.
- But you have to understand that he is writing in a way that places his story in ancient times and places, so he uses English that was spoken and written hundreds of years ago, not the English that is used today.
- urielwang "even if it is only a staff" Correct.
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2 Answers
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urielwangI am sure that Sir. Tolkien is correct.Yes, he is. But you have to understand that he is writing in a way that places his story in ancient times and places, so he uses English that was spoken and written hundreds of years ago, not the English that is used today.
urielwang"even if it is only a staff"Correct. This
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