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Stenka25 Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

The structure and meaning of a sentence

The text below is from the Hemingway's book, "For Whom The Bell Tolls."
In that underlined part, I cannot figure the structure of this sentence as well as what that part exactly means. To me, for example, 'this and that' seems verb but I'm not 100% sure about it.

Now we come for something of consummate importance and thee, with thy dwelling place to be undisturbed, puts thy fox-hole before the interests of humanity. Before the interests of thy people. I this and that in the this and that of thy father. I this and that and that in thy this. Pick up that bag.”

In an website, there was a helpful comment as follows; One of Hemingway's solutions was simply to quote the original Spanish word or phrase. It's then up to the reader to check with a Spanish/English dictionary to learn how crudely someone has insulted someone else.
A second method was to employ an all-purpose and acceptable English word that at least suggests the original. Anselmo, in his early tirade about Pablo's negative attitude, says: “I this and that in the this and that of thy father. I this and that and that in thy this.”

Thanks to this site, I now know the underlined part is criticizing harshly Anselmo. Anyhow, I need to know the structure of this sentence as well as what that part exactly means.

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

Hi, Here's the sentence in more context. The old man turned toward him suddenly and spoke rapidly and furiously in a dialect that Robert Jordan could just follow. It was like reading Quevedo.

  • Hi, Here's the sentence in more context.
  • The old man turned toward him suddenly and spoke rapidly and furiously in a dialect that Robert Jordan could just follow.
  • It was like reading Quevedo.
  • Anselmo was speaking old Castilian and it went something like this, "Art thou a brute?
  • Yes.
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1 Answers
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Hi,

Here's the sentence in more context.
The old man turned toward him suddenly and spoke rapidly and furiously in a dialect that Robert Jordan could just follow. It was like reading Quevedo. Anselmo was speaking old Castilian and it went something like this, "Art thou a brute? Yes. Art thou a beast? Yes, many tim

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