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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
The analyses of a text #5
The narrator recalls his adolescence.
He is an apprentice for the lawyer Mr. Jorkins.
His grand aunt and her distant relative Mr. Dick came to London after her going bankrupt.
Now, He works as the secretary for Doctor Strong, who lives in Highgate now, in his spare time, who was the head master of the school the protagonist went to.
The local lawyer Mr. Wickfield's only daughter Agnes is his best friend.
Uriah is the partner of Mr. Wickfield and Uriah and his mother Mrs. Heep lives in Mr. Wickfield's house.
Uriah came to Doctor Strong's house.
.............................
Neither was I surprised when, on the very next day, Uriah, like a dutiful son, brought his worthy mother to take possession.
'You see, Master Copperfield,' said he, as he forced himself upon my company for a turn in the Doctor's garden, 'where a person loves, a person is a little jealous - leastways, anxious to keep an eye on the beloved one.'
'Of whom are you jealous, now?' said I.
'Thanks to you, Master Copperfield,' he returned, 'of no one in particular just at present - no male person, at least.'
'Do you mean that you are jealous of a female person?'
He gave me a sidelong glance out of his sinister red eyes, and laughed.
'Really, Master Copperfield,' he said, '- I should say Mister, but I know you'll excuse the abit I've got into - you're so insinuating, that you draw me like a corkscrew! Well, I don't mind telling you,' putting his fish-like hand on mine, 'I'm not a lady's man in general, sir, and I never was, with Mrs. Strong.'
His eyes looked green now, as they watched mine with a rascally cunning.
'What do you mean?' said I.
'Why, though I am a lawyer, Master Copperfield,' he replied, with a dry grin, 'I mean, just at present, what I say.'
'And what do you mean by your look?' I retorted, quietly.
'By my look? Dear me, Copperfield, that's sharp practice! What do I mean by my look?'
'Yes,' said I. 'By your look.'
He seemed very much amused, and laughed as heartily as it was in his nature to laugh. After some scraping of his chin with his hand, he went on to say, with his eyes cast downward - still scraping, very slowly:
'When I was but an umble clerk, she always looked down upon me. She was for ever having my Agnes backwards and forwards at her ouse, and she was for ever being a friend to you, Master Copperfield; but I was too far beneath her, myself, to be noticed.'
'Well?' said I; 'suppose you were!'
'- And beneath him too,' pursued Uriah, very distinctly, and in a meditative tone of voice, as he continued to scrape his chin.
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
1. I'd like to know what "the abit I've got into" means.
2. I'd like to know what "what I say" means.
3. I'd like to know what "sharp practice" means.
4. And I'd like to know "suppose you were" means "if you were that."
Thank you in advance for your help.
He is an apprentice for the lawyer Mr. Jorkins.
His grand aunt and her distant relative Mr. Dick came to London after her going bankrupt.
Now, He works as the secretary for Doctor Strong, who lives in Highgate now, in his spare time, who was the head master of the school the protagonist went to.
The local lawyer Mr. Wickfield's only daughter Agnes is his best friend.
Uriah is the partner of Mr. Wickfield and Uriah and his mother Mrs. Heep lives in Mr. Wickfield's house.
Uriah came to Doctor Strong's house.
.............................
Neither was I surprised when, on the very next day, Uriah, like a dutiful son, brought his worthy mother to take possession.
'You see, Master Copperfield,' said he, as he forced himself upon my company for a turn in the Doctor's garden, 'where a person loves, a person is a little jealous - leastways, anxious to keep an eye on the beloved one.'
'Of whom are you jealous, now?' said I.
'Thanks to you, Master Copperfield,' he returned, 'of no one in particular just at present - no male person, at least.'
'Do you mean that you are jealous of a female person?'
He gave me a sidelong glance out of his sinister red eyes, and laughed.
'Really, Master Copperfield,' he said, '- I should say Mister, but I know you'll excuse the abit I've got into - you're so insinuating, that you draw me like a corkscrew! Well, I don't mind telling you,' putting his fish-like hand on mine, 'I'm not a lady's man in general, sir, and I never was, with Mrs. Strong.'
His eyes looked green now, as they watched mine with a rascally cunning.
'What do you mean?' said I.
'Why, though I am a lawyer, Master Copperfield,' he replied, with a dry grin, 'I mean, just at present, what I say.'
'And what do you mean by your look?' I retorted, quietly.
'By my look? Dear me, Copperfield, that's sharp practice! What do I mean by my look?'
'Yes,' said I. 'By your look.'
He seemed very much amused, and laughed as heartily as it was in his nature to laugh. After some scraping of his chin with his hand, he went on to say, with his eyes cast downward - still scraping, very slowly:
'When I was but an umble clerk, she always looked down upon me. She was for ever having my Agnes backwards and forwards at her ouse, and she was for ever being a friend to you, Master Copperfield; but I was too far beneath her, myself, to be noticed.'
'Well?' said I; 'suppose you were!'
'- And beneath him too,' pursued Uriah, very distinctly, and in a meditative tone of voice, as he continued to scrape his chin.
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
1. I'd like to know what "the abit I've got into" means.
2. I'd like to know what "what I say" means.
3. I'd like to know what "sharp practice" means.
4. And I'd like to know "suppose you were" means "if you were that."
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
Hi 1. I wonder if that should be 'abit. It's short for habit.
- Hi 1.
- I wonder if that should be 'abit.
- It's short for habit.
- Uriah has become accustomed to referring to Copperfield as Master Copperfield, although he (Copperfield) is of an age when he would usually be referred to as Mister.
- But Uriah continues to call him Master because it is a habit he has got into 2.
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2 Answers
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Hi
1. I wonder if that should be 'abit. It's short for habit. Uriah has become accustomed to referring to Copperfield as Master Copperfield, although he (Copperfield) is of an age when he would usually be referred to as Mister. But Uriah continues to call him Master because it is a habit he has got into
2. "Mean what I say" is a common idiom for "I speak the truth". Dickens
1. I wonder if that should be 'abit. It's short for habit. Uriah has become accustomed to referring to Copperfield as Master Copperfield, although he (Copperfield) is of an age when he would usually be referred to as Mister. But Uriah continues to call him Master because it is a habit he has got into
2. "Mean what I say" is a common idiom for "I speak the truth". Dickens
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Q1. Dropping the initial 'h' sound before a vowel is associated with uneducated or, historically, lower class English speakers, very 'eavy, very 'umble for example. Should be prefixed with an apostrophe when written down, missing in the example.
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