in his lifetime

Question

Food was provided for the deceased and should the expected regular offerings of the descendants cease, food depicted on the walls of the tomb would be magically transformed to supply the needs of the dead. Images on tombs might include a triangular shaped piece of bread (part of the food offerings from a tomb). Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner would have eaten in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

This is about ancient Egyptian. Please explain the boldface part for me. Thanks!

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

What exactly don't you understand in that part? What's the exact source of your confusion?
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afterlife

Function: noun
Etymology: ⁴after + life

1 : an existence http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged?book=Third&va=after death<it is doubtful whether the Egyptian conception of the afterlife really enters into the background of Hebrew religion -- S.H.Hooke>

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Say: someone likes hotdogs, he has them painted on their tomb, in the hope that in afterlife (next life, life after death) they might enjoy them again

Nef · Answer

Flora Tang
Food was provided for the deceased and should the expected regular offerings of the descendants cease, food depicted on the walls of the tomb would be magically transformed to supply the needs of the dead. Images on tombs might include a triangular shaped piece of bread (part of the food offerings from a tomb). Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner would have eaten in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

This is about ancient Egyptian. Please explain the boldface part for me. Thanks!

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Say: someone likes hotdogs, he has them painted on their tomb, in the hope that in afterlife (next life, life after death) they might enjoy them again

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Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner would have eaten in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

Other pictures might represent (be of, symbolize) the kind of food that the person in the tomb would have eaten in his or her lifetime. As Marius said, that is the same kind of food that the person would like to eat in the afterlife, if possible.

Flora Tang · Answer

Can I change the "in his lifetime" into "in his next-lifetime"?

The tomb ower must be dead then.

Nef · Answer

Flora Tang
Can I change the "in his lifetime" into "in his next-lifetime"?

The tomb ower must be dead then.

from www.dictionary.com

tomb

–noun

1.	an excavation in earth or rock for the burial of a corpse; grave.

2.	a mausoleum, burial chamber, or the like.

3.	a monument for housing or commemorating a dead person.

4.	any sepulchral structure.

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Yes, the tomb owner (the person in the tomb) is dead. "deceased" = "dead"

Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner would have eaten

in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

You shouldn't change "in his lifetime" to "in his next lifetime" here. This is about the past,

the lifetime the person had before he (or she) died. But the 'after-life' is what is next for

the person.

Maple · Answer

Flora Tang
Can I change the "in his lifetime" into "in his next-lifetime"?

The tomb ower must be dead then.

This is my comprehension:

"in his lifetime" vs "in the after-life" is similiar to "when he was alive" vs "after he died".

The sentence is in subjunctive (simplified after and), indicating a hypothesis to the matters happened in the past.

Flora Tang · Answer

I am soooo confused with the tense-would have eaten.

why not "the tomb owner have eaten in his lifetime"?

Nef · Answer

Flora TangI am soooo confused with the tense-would have eaten.

why not "the tomb owner have eaten in his lifetime"?

Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner would have eaten in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

The "might" shows some uncertainty. It's like saying "It is possible that..."

"Would have eaten" handles the uncertainty very well.

Marius Hancu · Answer

Flora TangI am soooo confused with the tense-would have eaten.

why not "the tomb owner have eaten in his lifetime"?

Study your conditionals:

http://www.englishpage.com/conditional/conditionalintro.html

Flora Tang · Answer

Nef
Flora Tang
I am soooo confused with the tense-would have eaten.

why not "the tomb owner have eaten in his lifetime"?

Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner would have eaten in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

The "might" shows some uncertainty. It's like saying "It is possible that..."

"Would have eaten" handles the uncertainty very well.

If the tomb owner had been in his lifetime, he would have eaten the food items.

The food items which the tomb owner loved best.

Isn't it?

Anonymous · Answer

This is a link to a website that talks about conditional sentences. (I agree with Marius' suggestion.)

http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/IF6.cfm

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Also, let's look at the original sentence (# 1) and another sentence (# 2).

1. Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner would have eaten in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

2. Other images might represent food items that the tomb owner had eaten in his lifetime and hoped to eat in the after-life.

Let's say that I'm looking at an Egyptian tomb that is several thousand years old.

I know a little, but not a lot.

I think it is possible that the kind of food painted on the walls is the same kind of food that the person in the tomb ate. But I am not sure of this. That is why I use "might" in the sentence.

# 2 is very close to that meaning, but # 1 does a better job of expressing uncertainty.

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Somebody else might be able to explain that a lot better than I can.

in his lifetime

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