0
Tkacka15 Posted 8 years ago
Vocabulary

It had to have been

"After insisting the Heathrow decision had been a no-brainer – it had to have been, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make it – he declared that post-Brexit Britain would be exactly like Monarch airlines [declared insolvent]."

(The Guardian.)

Is "it had to have been, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make it" a sarcastic expression in the context above? (I think it is.)

Does the perfect infinitive in "it had to have been" have something to do with the preceding it "the Heathrow decision had been a no-brainer"?

  

Top answer

tkacka15 Is "it had to have been, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make it" a sarcastic expression in the context above? ) It's a reference to Chris Grayling's intelligence, or lack thereof. com/politics/2018/oct/01/conference-or-crack-den-tories-john-crace ).

— Ivanhr

  • tkacka15 Is "it had to have been, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make it" a sarcastic expression in the context above?
  • ) It's a reference to Chris Grayling's intelligence, or lack thereof.
  • com/politics/2018/oct/01/conference-or-crack-den-tories-john-crace ).
  • tkacka15 Does the perfect infinitive in "it had to have been" have something to do with the preceding it "the Heathrow decision had been a no-brainer"?
  • Yes, the it in it had to have been is a reference to the Heathrow decision had been a no-brainer .
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

2 Answers
0
tkacka15Is "it had to have been, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make it" a sarcastic expression in the context above? (I think it is.)

It's a reference to Chris Grayling's intelligence, or lack thereof. So, yes, it can be viewed as sarcasm (

0
0
tkacka15Is "it had to have been, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to make it" a sarcastic expression in the context above? (I think it is.)

Yes. And very funny.

0

Related Questions