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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
English in UK
Good syntax ?
Hi,
I would like to know if these sentences (from a poem translated into English) are syntactically and grammatically right (if not, it may be deliberate) or a little bit odd:
1- Life's years do not last a century
2- Man ever nurses worries of one thousand years.
..
3- Make merry we must while there's time
4- Can wait for next year?
Please, what would be a more "correct" (better usage) for these sentences if they are really odd ? for example: "can YOU wait for next year ?" would be, I suppose, more fluent (do not care about "poetry", since it's not a poetic translation, but just about the right, normal usage, grammar and syntax).
Thank you !
Mordicus (from France)
I would like to know if these sentences (from a poem translated into English) are syntactically and grammatically right (if not, it may be deliberate) or a little bit odd:
1- Life's years do not last a century
2- Man ever nurses worries of one thousand years.
..
3- Make merry we must while there's time
4- Can wait for next year?
Please, what would be a more "correct" (better usage) for these sentences if they are really odd ? for example: "can YOU wait for next year ?" would be, I suppose, more fluent (do not care about "poetry", since it's not a poetic translation, but just about the right, normal usage, grammar and syntax).
Thank you !
Mordicus (from France)
Top answer
[nq:1]I would like to know if these sentences (from a poem translated into English) are syntactically and grammatically right (if ... poetic translation, but just about the right, normal usage, grammar and syntax). 1- Life's years do not last a century[/nq] The first sentence doesn't have bad grammar or syntax, but the language is more suited to literature.
- [nq:1]I would like to know if these sentences (from a poem translated into English) are syntactically and grammatically right (if ...
- poetic translation, but just about the right, normal usage, grammar and syntax).
- 1- Life's years do not last a century[/nq] The first sentence doesn't have bad grammar or syntax, but the language is more suited to literature.
- One way to handle this odd sentence is by untangling the apostrophe of possession: 1- The years of life do not last a century.
- [/nq] The adverb is in an unusual place in this sentence, I'd say it's too clumsy to be literary: 2- Man nurses the worries of one thousand years forever.
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2 Answers
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[nq:1]I would like to know if these sentences (from a poem translated into English) are syntactically and grammatically right (if ... poetic translation, but just about the right, normal usage, grammar and syntax). 1- Life's years do not last a century[/nq]
The first sentence doesn't have bad grammar or syntax, but the language is more suited to literature. One way to handle this odd sentence
The first sentence doesn't have bad grammar or syntax, but the language is more suited to literature. One way to handle this odd sentence
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Thank you very much Rotes for you answer ! I received very interesting answers from others users too (because I made a mistake when I edited my post, the answers are posted under the subject "Reediting my post (up!)" in the same newsgroup (uk.culture.language.english newsgroup).
Mordicus
Mordicus
0
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