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Banana zany 467 Posted 7 years ago
Grammar

Syntax/

Hello,

I translated the following sentence from Dutch: "A mantle was draped around his shoulders and a sceptre was wrung in the by that time rigid hand."

Is the part "..in the by that time rigid hand." archaic, literary or just dead wrong?

Thanks,

F.

  

Top answer

" wrong The first problem is the verb. g. wring a wet cloth to squeeze out the water.

— AlpheccaStars

  • " wrong The first problem is the verb.
  • g.
  • wring a wet cloth to squeeze out the water.
  • wring a chicken's neck to kill it
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3 Answers
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banana zany 467 wrung in the by that time rigid hand."

wrong

The first problem is the verb.

To wring - is to twist

e.g. wring a wet cloth to squeeze out the water.

wring a chicken's neck to kill it

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"..in the by that time rigid hand." archaic, literary or just dead wrong? It's not wrong, but it seems is literary and uncommon. The whole sentence is archaic in tone.

wrung does not seem to make any sense here. Can you find another translation for this word?

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ok, thanks. The tone is archaic in Dutch as well, so I have to convey that in English too.

I think I will have to go for the verb "force". It's less specific but other verbs like pry, wrench, twist all have the meaning of taking away. Do you have any suggestions?

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