Subjunctive Past
With the rise of printing a century earlier and with more people able to read and write than ever before, the literary selfie had arrived. At times it seems as if everyone who was anyone produced their version of great events, to exaggerate their own roles and smear their enemies.
Can I paraphrase the last sentence like: it seems as if everyone-who was anyone-produced their version of..... ? And if I can, does 'who was anyone' mean 'a normal person'? This sentence is rather confusing because I believe it's subjunctive past('who was' and 'produced') I wonder if I understand this right.
Thanks for your help.
Top answer
Yun Cyrus At times it seems as if everyone who was anyone produced their version of great events, to exaggerate their own roles and smear their enemies. Can I paraphrase the last sentence like: it seems as if everyone—who was anyone—produced their version of..... No.
- Yun Cyrus At times it seems as if everyone who was anyone produced their version of great events, to exaggerate their own roles and smear their enemies.
- Can I paraphrase the last sentence like: it seems as if everyone—who was anyone—produced their version of.....
- No.
- Adding the dashes is a bad idea.
- And by the way, just changing the punctuation is not paraphrasing.
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Yun CyrusAt times it seems as if everyone who was anyone produced their version of great events, to exaggerate their own roles and smear their enemies.
Can I paraphrase the last sentence like: it seems as if everyone—who was anyone—produced their version of..... ?
No. Adding the dashes is a bad idea. And by the way, just changing the punctuation is no
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