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Rotter Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
To be told by accompanying tax collectors
Earlier this year, authorities in the southern city of Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state sent drummers around to create a noise outside homes until evaders cough up.
Officials say they recouped 200,000 rupees ($4,600) on the first day.
Harried residents emerged from their homes to be told by accompanying tax collectors to pay up or continue facing the music.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4168766.stm
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My question is on the last sentence of the above.
Some hurried residents emerged from their homes.
There were some tax collectors around their homes and they told those residents to pay their dues or continue facing the music.
However, in the article you will read the words 'to be told by accompanying tax collectors' .
The words 'to be told by' sound poetic to me. What is the meaning of those words here?
Officials say they recouped 200,000 rupees ($4,600) on the first day.
Harried residents emerged from their homes to be told by accompanying tax collectors to pay up or continue facing the music.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4168766.stm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My question is on the last sentence of the above.
Some hurried residents emerged from their homes.
There were some tax collectors around their homes and they told those residents to pay their dues or continue facing the music.
However, in the article you will read the words 'to be told by accompanying tax collectors' .
The words 'to be told by' sound poetic to me. What is the meaning of those words here?
Top answer
I kind of agree with you, Rotter, plus I'd change a few other things: Perhaps, it should have been written like this: As harried residents emerged from their homes, they were told by tax collectors, accompanying the drummers, to pay up or face the music.
- I kind of agree with you, Rotter, plus I'd change a few other things: Perhaps, it should have been written like this: As harried residents emerged from their homes, they were told by tax collectors, accompanying the drummers, to pay up or face the music.
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3 Answers
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I kind of agree with you, Rotter, plus I'd change a few other things:
Perhaps, it should have been written like this: As harried residents emerged from their homes, they were told by tax collectors, accompanying the drummers, to pay up or face the music.
Perhaps, it should have been written like this: As harried residents emerged from their homes, they were told by tax collectors, accompanying the drummers, to pay up or face the music.
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Perhaps the faint echo of the nursery rhyme makes it seem poetic:
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver,
Six for gold, Seven for a secret Never to be told.
But I wonder whether in fact the not especially poetic phrase 'only to be told' is lurking in the shadows.
'Outside homes' is also strange. And I'd have said 'coughed', rat
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver,
Six for gold, Seven for a secret Never to be told.
But I wonder whether in fact the not especially poetic phrase 'only to be told' is lurking in the shadows.
'Outside homes' is also strange. And I'd have said 'coughed', rat
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Those words do not strike me as particularly poetic. The literal meaning is that the tax collectors who were with the drummers told / ordered the residents to pay up when the residents came out of their homes to find out why there was so much noise. The stylistic pattern is frequently accompanied by the word "only". This turn of phrase is used to suggest that something unexpected happened
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