Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Linguistics Studies
Does this sentence sound right?
0 "Their disdain rarely failed to evoke in him a delayed sense of self-irony not at all fatal in nature." 02 br
02 br
00 First of all, is that sentence at all grammatically correct? Did I miss any hyphens? Punctuation? 02 br
02 br
00 What about the style, does it sound too literary or archaic? How would you paraphrase the sentence to convey the same meaning more stylistically? I tried to achieve a type of a surreal mood to play down the significance of the 'disdain' and imply that the subject has capacity for self-irony, and, at the same time, get a hint of indignation to speak in the background. 02 br
02 br
00 It's embarrassing, I feel like a beggar asking for a coin to spare. None the less, I feel like some kind of a wake-up call is a necessary step in my learning process. So, please, oh kindly people...help out a fellow linguist and tell me how badly I messed up here! 02 br
02 br
00 Yours truly, 02 br
02 br
00 Not a native speaker 0-
02 br
00 First of all, is that sentence at all grammatically correct? Did I miss any hyphens? Punctuation? 02 br
02 br
00 What about the style, does it sound too literary or archaic? How would you paraphrase the sentence to convey the same meaning more stylistically? I tried to achieve a type of a surreal mood to play down the significance of the 'disdain' and imply that the subject has capacity for self-irony, and, at the same time, get a hint of indignation to speak in the background. 02 br
02 br
00 It's embarrassing, I feel like a beggar asking for a coin to spare. None the less, I feel like some kind of a wake-up call is a necessary step in my learning process. So, please, oh kindly people...help out a fellow linguist and tell me how badly I messed up here! 02 br
02 br
00 Yours truly, 02 br
02 br
00 Not a native speaker 0-
Top answer
0 It's extremely literay, and sounds like something from the Jane Austen-era of writing. 0-
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
0
0 It's extremely literay, and sounds like something from the Jane Austen-era of writing. I'm not quite sure what "a sense of self-irony" is, but basically: 02 br
02 br
00 He felt their disdain for him, and later on, it usually gave him a sense of self-irony, but it wasn't a truly terrible feeling. 0-
02 br
00 He felt their disdain for him, and later on, it usually gave him a sense of self-irony, but it wasn't a truly terrible feeling. 0-
00
0 grammatically, it looks OK. 02 br
02 br
00 It sounds too long. Yes, it sounds too long and too archaic. And what is self-irony? 0-
02 br
00 It sounds too long. Yes, it sounds too long and too archaic. And what is self-irony? 0-
00
0 I find your sentence very satisfactory. It may be Jane Austenish but there is no law against such language even today. 05 0 00 Why should everybody speak and write in exactly the same way in English? People don't do that in many other languages. I see no mistakes in punctuation or hyphens but I know one native forum member who would consider the sentence incorrect because it contains a rela
00
1 blockquote
00 Anyone who can write like that does not need help. 05 0 010id 1
01 cite 10 Anonymous 12 cite 10 "Their disdain rarely failed to evoke in him a delayed sense of self-irony not at all fatal in nature." 12 blockquote12 br
00 Anyone who can write like that does not need help. 05 0 010id 1
00
0 Thanks for all the input. Everyone needs a little help sometimes... after all, no man is an island 05 0 02 br
02 br
00 I agree with Cool Breese; everyone has their own style. Besides, people still read classics these days and, to my knowledge, there has been no great effort to 'translate' every one of them into modern English...so why should everyone write like Stephen King? 0
02 br
00 I agree with Cool Breese; everyone has their own style. Besides, people still read classics these days and, to my knowledge, there has been no great effort to 'translate' every one of them into modern English...so why should everyone write like Stephen King? 0
00
0 Look, for what it's worth, at no point did I say anything about whether it was good style or bad style. You asked whether it sounds archaic or literary. I answered that it sounds like Jane Austen, who happens to be one of my favorite writers. Of course there's no universally correct writing style. I didn't say "I wouldn't write this way" or "No one will understand you if you do." 02 br
0
0
0