give to be

Question

When we met a few days later, in the Barcelona office of his literary agent, Carmen Balcells, he eyed me up and down and asked, “How old are you?” I told him, “Forty-two.” Hearing this, he spun around and called out to Balcells’s bevy of middle-aged female assistants, “Do you hear that? Forty-two! Can you imagine being that age again?” Turning back to me, he said, “How wonderful. What I would give to be forty-two again.” That, too, was classic Gabo: warm, embracingly matey, always seeking to shed his celebrity status in order to be at one with you.

Could you tell me what the man wants to 'give' or could you use another word to express this sentence again?

Clive · Accepted Answer

What I would pay / sacrifice to be forty-two again.

I would pay / sacrifice anything to be forty-two again.

Rpsh · Answer

I always see such pattern of a sentence. I think the period of this sentence is not a typo. So this is a declarative sentence. Could you tell me more about grammar of this style?

Clive · Answer

I'd call it an exclamatory sentence, and I would follow it with an exclamation mark.

CalifJim · Answer

rpshWhat I would give to be forty-two again.

Also: This is one of those few curiosities in English where the negation of the expression has the same meaning as the affirmative form.

What I wouldn't give to be forty-two again!

(There is no amount I would not be willing to pay in order to be 42 again.)

CJ

Rpsh · Answer

Exactly! Got it, thank you!

Rpsh · Answer

So 'what I wouldn't give to be forty-two again!'= 'what I would give to be forty-two again!'?

CalifJim · Answer

rpshSo 'what I wouldn't give to be forty-two again!'= 'what I would give to be forty-two again!'?

Yes. I hear it more often in the negative.

CJ

Rpsh · Answer

OK, thank you!

give to be

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