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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
The analyses of a text #4
The narrator recalls his adolescence.
He is beginning a new life as an apprentice in Doctors' Commons at London.
The narrator's best friend Steerforth and his Oxford friends came over to the narrator's apartment to dinner.
After the dinner and the much drinking of wine, they went to a theatre, where he encountered his old friend Agnes and she advised that he had better go home?I think she found him so very drunk.
........................................
But the agony of mind, the remorse, and shame I felt, when I became conscious next day. My horror of having committed a thousand offences I had forgotten, and which nothing could ever expiate?my recollection of that indelible look which Agnes had given me?the torturing impossibility of communicating with her, not knowing, Beast that I was, how she came to be in London, or where she stayed?my disgust of the very sight of the room where the revel had been held?my racking head?the smell of smoke, the sight of glasses, the impossibility of going out, or even getting up!
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
1. I'd like to know "there is" omitted before "my horror."
2. I'd like to know if "nothing" can "expiate" something, not an intellectual being.
3. I'd like to know if the phrases in blue give a supplementary explanation about "offences."
4. And I'd like to know what "beast that I was" means here.
Thank you in advance for your help.
He is beginning a new life as an apprentice in Doctors' Commons at London.
The narrator's best friend Steerforth and his Oxford friends came over to the narrator's apartment to dinner.
After the dinner and the much drinking of wine, they went to a theatre, where he encountered his old friend Agnes and she advised that he had better go home?I think she found him so very drunk.
........................................
But the agony of mind, the remorse, and shame I felt, when I became conscious next day. My horror of having committed a thousand offences I had forgotten, and which nothing could ever expiate?my recollection of that indelible look which Agnes had given me?the torturing impossibility of communicating with her, not knowing, Beast that I was, how she came to be in London, or where she stayed?my disgust of the very sight of the room where the revel had been held?my racking head?the smell of smoke, the sight of glasses, the impossibility of going out, or even getting up!
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
1. I'd like to know "there is" omitted before "my horror."
2. I'd like to know if "nothing" can "expiate" something, not an intellectual being.
3. I'd like to know if the phrases in blue give a supplementary explanation about "offences."
4. And I'd like to know what "beast that I was" means here.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
1. It seems that this sentence is intentionally made up of a series of noun phrases, as a stylistic device. There is no real need to assume any missing words.
- 1.
- It seems that this sentence is intentionally made up of a series of noun phrases, as a stylistic device.
- There is no real need to assume any missing words.
- 2.
- You mean can the subject of "expiate" be non-human?
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1 Answers
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1. It seems that this sentence is intentionally made up of a series of noun phrases, as a stylistic device. There is no real need to assume any missing words.
2. You mean can the subject of "expiate" be non-human? Yes, it can be a deed or action, for instance.
3. The blue part just continues the list of "things".
4. It means that he was a beast, i.e. someone who behaves
2. You mean can the subject of "expiate" be non-human? Yes, it can be a deed or action, for instance.
3. The blue part just continues the list of "things".
4. It means that he was a beast, i.e. someone who behaves
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