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SuperESL Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Inkling
"In his speech Stalin telegraphed an inkling that the war footing on which the nation had been put might be extended indefinitely after the war."
Do you think the usage of "inking," in the sense of 'a hint,' is acceptable in the above example?
Apart from the issue of the usage of inking, do you think I should say 'was to be' instead of 'might be':
"In his speech Stalin telegraphed an inkling that the war footing on which the nation had been put was to be extended indefinitely after the war." ?
Thank you.
Do you think the usage of "inking," in the sense of 'a hint,' is acceptable in the above example?
Apart from the issue of the usage of inking, do you think I should say 'was to be' instead of 'might be':
"In his speech Stalin telegraphed an inkling that the war footing on which the nation had been put was to be extended indefinitely after the war." ?
Thank you.
Top answer
'Inkling' has the right meaning, but it seems a little casual for the context. 'Was to be' is a statement of certainty; 'might' is a statement of possibility only.
- 'Inkling' has the right meaning, but it seems a little casual for the context.
- 'Was to be' is a statement of certainty; 'might' is a statement of possibility only.
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4 Answers
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'Inkling' has the right meaning, but it seems a little casual for the context. 'Was to be' is a statement of certainty; 'might' is a statement of possibility only.
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Let me just switch to 'hint' then.
On the issue of 'was to be' and 'might,' say Stalin did in fact carry the war footing over into the postwar period, but nobody knew this for sure at the time when the speech mentioned in the sentence was made. So with the benefit of hindsight we know it was to be the case, but it wasn't so for a contemporary. In light of this, should I use 'was to be' or
On the issue of 'was to be' and 'might,' say Stalin did in fact carry the war footing over into the postwar period, but nobody knew this for sure at the time when the speech mentioned in the sentence was made. So with the benefit of hindsight we know it was to be the case, but it wasn't so for a contemporary. In light of this, should I use 'was to be' or
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