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Olga Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Help with inversion
I've met an unusual case of inversion in a fiction. The story is about a girl, who dances in a street for a crowd.
"Then I let the rhythm take me and I started to fly. Everything came together...
Didn't I dance. And wasn't I smooth.....
....
Didn't they applaud, oh honey, didn't they yell, and didn't they throw money. I dug coins from my own pockets and dropped them, too, leaving it all for the street kids.
..."
What does the inversion mean here? Uncertainty in reality of the evens? Or something else?
"Then I let the rhythm take me and I started to fly. Everything came together...
Didn't I dance. And wasn't I smooth.....
....
Didn't they applaud, oh honey, didn't they yell, and didn't they throw money. I dug coins from my own pockets and dropped them, too, leaving it all for the street kids.
..."
What does the inversion mean here? Uncertainty in reality of the evens? Or something else?
Top answer
Hello, Olga, welcome to the English Forums! I understand this as "and how I danced! " She expresses her wonder, a particularly wonderful, pleasant feeling.
- Hello, Olga, welcome to the English Forums!
- I understand this as "and how I danced!
- " She expresses her wonder, a particularly wonderful, pleasant feeling.
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4 Answers
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Hello, Olga, welcome to the English Forums!
I understand this as "and how I danced! And in such a smooth way!" She expresses her wonder, a particularly wonderful, pleasant feeling.
I understand this as "and how I danced! And in such a smooth way!" She expresses her wonder, a particularly wonderful, pleasant feeling.
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It's hard to say whether the girl is giving assurance or asking for assurance that events happened as she states. Perhaps it's this ambiguity that gives a dreamlike quality to what she says.
I can assure you I danced. I can assure you I was smooth. I can assure you they applauded. etc.
I danced, didn't I? I was smooth, wasn't I? They applauded, didn't they? etc.
I can assure you I danced. I can assure you I was smooth. I can assure you they applauded. etc.
I danced, didn't I? I was smooth, wasn't I? They applauded, didn't they? etc.
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I like your variant, Pieanne, but not sure. As CalifJim wrote, it may expresses an ambiguity.
It's a pity that it's impossible to ask the author. Thank you all.
It's a pity that it's impossible to ask the author. Thank you all.
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Dear Olga,
It is my opinion that the structure is the exclamatory interrogative.
It is interrogative in structure. It is exclamatory in nature. It expresses a strong assertion.
It is common to find such a sentence with an exclamation mark: «Didn't I dance!»
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