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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
The analyses of a text #2
The narrator recalls his adolescence.
His old nurse Peggotty's niece Emily fled away with his best friend Mr. James Steerforth, leaving her fiance Ham behind.
Peggotty's elder brother Mr. Peggotty has sought for her niece Emily after her leaving.
At length, he found out her niece.
Mr. Peggotty visited the narrator, told him about Emily's journey, and told he was emigrating to Australia.
Pessimistic Mrs. Gummidge Mawther is Mr. Peggotty's best friend's widow and have lived off Mr. Peggotty.
'And Mrs. Gummidge?' said I.
'Well, I've had a mort of consideration, I do tell you,' returned Mr. Peggotty, with a perplexed look which gradually cleared as he went on, 'concerning of Missis Gummidge. You see, wen Missis Gummidge falls a-thinking of the old 'un, she an't what you may call good company. Betwixt you and me, Mas'r Davy - and you, ma'am - wen Mrs. Gummidge takes to wimicking,' - our old country word for crying, - 'she's liable to be considered to be, by them as didn't know the old 'un, peevish-like. Now I DID know the old 'un,' said Mr. Peggotty, 'and I know'd his merits, so I unnerstan' her; but 'tan't entirely so, you see, with others - nat'rally can't be!'
My aunt and I both acquiesced.
'Wheerby,' said Mr. Peggotty, 'my sister might - I doen't say she would, but might - find Missis Gummidge give her a leetle trouble now-and-again. Theerfur 'tan't my intentions to moor Missis Gummidge 'long with them, but to find a Beein' fur her wheer she can fisherate for herself.' (A Beein' signifies, in that dialect, a home, and to fisherate is to provide.) 'Fur which purpose,' said Mr. Peggotty, 'I means to make her a 'lowance afore I go, as'll leave her pretty comfort'ble. She's the faithfullest of creeturs. 'Tan't to be expected, of course, at her time of life, and being lone and lorn, as the good old Mawther is to be knocked about aboardship, and in the woods and wilds of a new and fur-away country. So that's what I'm a-going to do with her.'
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
1. I'd like to know if "make her a allowance" means "give her money."
2. I'd like to know if "it" refers to the clauses in blue.
3. And I'd like to know if "being lone and lorn" modifies "her time."
Thank you in advance for your help.
His old nurse Peggotty's niece Emily fled away with his best friend Mr. James Steerforth, leaving her fiance Ham behind.
Peggotty's elder brother Mr. Peggotty has sought for her niece Emily after her leaving.
At length, he found out her niece.
Mr. Peggotty visited the narrator, told him about Emily's journey, and told he was emigrating to Australia.
Pessimistic Mrs. Gummidge Mawther is Mr. Peggotty's best friend's widow and have lived off Mr. Peggotty.
Chapter 51 THE BEGINNING OF A LONGER JOURNEY
.................................'And Mrs. Gummidge?' said I.
'Well, I've had a mort of consideration, I do tell you,' returned Mr. Peggotty, with a perplexed look which gradually cleared as he went on, 'concerning of Missis Gummidge. You see, wen Missis Gummidge falls a-thinking of the old 'un, she an't what you may call good company. Betwixt you and me, Mas'r Davy - and you, ma'am - wen Mrs. Gummidge takes to wimicking,' - our old country word for crying, - 'she's liable to be considered to be, by them as didn't know the old 'un, peevish-like. Now I DID know the old 'un,' said Mr. Peggotty, 'and I know'd his merits, so I unnerstan' her; but 'tan't entirely so, you see, with others - nat'rally can't be!'
My aunt and I both acquiesced.
'Wheerby,' said Mr. Peggotty, 'my sister might - I doen't say she would, but might - find Missis Gummidge give her a leetle trouble now-and-again. Theerfur 'tan't my intentions to moor Missis Gummidge 'long with them, but to find a Beein' fur her wheer she can fisherate for herself.' (A Beein' signifies, in that dialect, a home, and to fisherate is to provide.) 'Fur which purpose,' said Mr. Peggotty, 'I means to make her a 'lowance afore I go, as'll leave her pretty comfort'ble. She's the faithfullest of creeturs. 'Tan't to be expected, of course, at her time of life, and being lone and lorn, as the good old Mawther is to be knocked about aboardship, and in the woods and wilds of a new and fur-away country. So that's what I'm a-going to do with her.'
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
1. I'd like to know if "make her a allowance" means "give her money."
2. I'd like to know if "it" refers to the clauses in blue.
3. And I'd like to know if "being lone and lorn" modifies "her time."
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
1. Yes, give her money, perhaps a monthly or yearly income. 2.
- 1.
- Yes, give her money, perhaps a monthly or yearly income.
- 2.
- No, the underlined "it" ('Tan't be expected) does not refer to anything in the rest of the sentence.
- " 3.
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3 Answers
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1. Yes, give her money, perhaps a monthly or yearly income.
2. No, the underlined "it" ('Tan't be expected) does not refer to anything in the rest of the sentence. "It is not be expected" is a common phrase, meaning "nobody expects this to happen" or "it is not proper to think this should happen."
3. I think they are simply additional information about her. She is old ("her time
2. No, the underlined "it" ('Tan't be expected) does not refer to anything in the rest of the sentence. "It is not be expected" is a common phrase, meaning "nobody expects this to happen" or "it is not proper to think this should happen."
3. I think they are simply additional information about her. She is old ("her time
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Thank you, Doctor D, for another so very helpful answer from you. 
2. Then I was wondering if "at her time of life, and bei
2. Then I was wondering if "at her time of life, and bei
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2. Yes, that is close enough.
3. The quoted portion is a list of things that she should not have to suffer. I would substitute "that" of "as." So the sentence, reworded, would say:
It is not be expected, of course, given her age and her lonely, unhappy situation, that the good mother should have to face the hardships aboard ship and in the woods and wilds of a new and far-away country
3. The quoted portion is a list of things that she should not have to suffer. I would substitute "that" of "as." So the sentence, reworded, would say:
It is not be expected, of course, given her age and her lonely, unhappy situation, that the good mother should have to face the hardships aboard ship and in the woods and wilds of a new and far-away country
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