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Zuotengdazuo Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
What does "told him to please post his classes" mean?
The context goes like this:
Here are my questions:
1. Why do the author use "please" in the "to-infinitive" pattern? It seems very strange to me.
2. What does "told him to please post his classes" mean?
3. Why does the author put a "was" in the phrase "less good grace than was common"? What kind of grammatical phenomena is it?
Thank you very much.
For your information, "he" refers to the protagonist, Jack, who is a teacher.
That morning he had called Bruckner, the department head, and told him to please post his classes. He had the flu. Bruckner agreed, with less good grace than was common. Jack Torrance had been extremely susceptible to the flu in the last year.
Here are my questions:
1. Why do the author use "please" in the "to-infinitive" pattern? It seems very strange to me.
2. What does "told him to please post his classes" mean?
3. Why does the author put a "was" in the phrase "less good grace than was common"? What kind of grammatical phenomena is it?
Thank you very much.
Top answer
zuotengdazuo 1. Why do the author use "please" in the "to-infinitive" pattern? It seems very strange to me.
- zuotengdazuo 1.
- Why do the author use "please" in the "to-infinitive" pattern?
- It seems very strange to me.
- It is a bit strange.
- This is semi-indirect speech.
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2 Answers
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zuotengdazuo1. Why do the author use "please" in the "to-infinitive" pattern? It seems very strange to me.It is a bit strange. This is semi-indirect speech. It's a mix of
"asked him politely to post his classes"
and
"said 'Please post my/your classes'".
It's very informal.
zuotengdazuo2. What does "told him to pl
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