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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Vocabulary

Meaning

Hi friends,
What does "the howling" in the following text?

“The guy began by saying they should call him Ed. Ed hoped they were now feeling comfortable, and that they knew—as he did!—that they had made the right choice. Now he’d like to give them—share with them—a deeper peek behind the scenes. The powers that be had not decided easily on this plan, he said. Definitely more than one policy planner’s ass was on the line (he smirked a little at his own use of the word ass) as witness the howling when the scheme was first announced.”

Thanks
  

Top answer

The sentence actually doesn't make grammatical sense... are you sure it's been copied correctly?

— Elanguest

  • The sentence actually doesn't make grammatical sense...
  • are you sure it's been copied correctly?
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27 Answers
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The sentence actually doesn't make grammatical sense... are you sure it's been copied correctly?
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Yes, it is extracted of Atwood's story "i'm starved for you".
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".. the howling when the scheme was first announced."

It means the announcement of the scheme caused an intense reaction.
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Hmm. It's amazing what gets past proofreaders these days. Emotion: smile
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ElanguestThe sentence actually doesn't make grammatical sense
I don't see a problem.
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"as witness the howling"

What does that even mean?
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Elanguest"as witness the howling" What does that even mean?
It means there were loud complaints and objections when the scheme was announced.
What do you find unclear?
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The structure of the sentence.
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Elanguest"as witness the howling" What does that even mean?
The Shorter Oxford lists "as witness" in "phrases" under the entry "witness", saying to see definition 7b, to wit, "Introducing a name, designation, phrase or clause denoting a person who or thing which provides evidence of the fact or exemplifies the statement. Also as witness". They da
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Shouldn't it be as witness to the howling? What is this feigned delicacy about using a swear word while throwing around oblique terms? Also, a deeper peek behind the scenes? Since when do people peek deeply? At any rate it's a mixed metaphor. Samane, the best advice I could give would be to choose a different book.
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