Paco2004 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Walter M. Schirra Jr
0 I found an article about ex-astronaut Schirra in a page from CNN. 02 br
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01 01 b 00 Walter M. Schirra Jr. 02 b 02 br
00 Schirra in his Mercury pressure suit with model of Mercury spacecraft behind him. The jocular Schirra logged more time in space than any of the other Mercury seven -- 295 hours -- aboard Mercury 8, Gemini 6 and Apollo 7. He left NASA and the Navy in 1969 when there were no new missions coming his way. "I didn't want to be a potted palm," he says. He worked at an oil and gas company before forming his own environmental company, which he then sold, and did stints as an executive at Johns-Manville and Kimberly-Clark. 02 br
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00 Now retired, the 75-year-old Schirra has written two books -- "Schirra's Space" and "From Wildcats to Tomcats" (the latter about naval aviation) -- and still makes speeches and public appearances. He was at Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles recently for the inauguration of a ride called "The Scream Machine." He lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and has a second home on Kauai, Hawaii. His hobbies including fishing, boating and golf. 02 br
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00 Never at a loss for one-liners, Schirra has two regarding Glenn's return to space: "One, I'm not that old. Two, I don't need the flight time." Would he go back into space himself? "Not unless I could fly it," he says. "I'm not interested in sitting in back." 02 br
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00 What I feel somehow difficult to get is the last paragraph. As for the first sentence, I take it as "Being never at a loss for one-liners (=jokes), Schirra has two (one-liners) regarding Glenn's return to space". Am I right? What does mean "Not unless I could fly it"? Is it an ellipsis of "He would not go into the space himself unless I could fly it"? Can we use an "unless"-clause in a second type of conditional? What does this "it" stand for? Is it "return to space"? 02 br
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00 paco 0-
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00 Schirra in his Mercury pressure suit with model of Mercury spacecraft behind him. The jocular Schirra logged more time in space than any of the other Mercury seven -- 295 hours -- aboard Mercury 8, Gemini 6 and Apollo 7. He left NASA and the Navy in 1969 when there were no new missions coming his way. "I didn't want to be a potted palm," he says. He worked at an oil and gas company before forming his own environmental company, which he then sold, and did stints as an executive at Johns-Manville and Kimberly-Clark. 02 br
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00 Now retired, the 75-year-old Schirra has written two books -- "Schirra's Space" and "From Wildcats to Tomcats" (the latter about naval aviation) -- and still makes speeches and public appearances. He was at Knott's Berry Farm near Los Angeles recently for the inauguration of a ride called "The Scream Machine." He lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and has a second home on Kauai, Hawaii. His hobbies including fishing, boating and golf. 02 br
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00 Never at a loss for one-liners, Schirra has two regarding Glenn's return to space: "One, I'm not that old. Two, I don't need the flight time." Would he go back into space himself? "Not unless I could fly it," he says. "I'm not interested in sitting in back." 02 br
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00 What I feel somehow difficult to get is the last paragraph. As for the first sentence, I take it as "Being never at a loss for one-liners (=jokes), Schirra has two (one-liners) regarding Glenn's return to space". Am I right? What does mean "Not unless I could fly it"? Is it an ellipsis of "He would not go into the space himself unless I could fly it"? Can we use an "unless"-clause in a second type of conditional? What does this "it" stand for? Is it "return to space"? 02 br
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00 paco 0-
Top answer
" 02 br 02 br 00 "It" stands for "space", not "return to space". He would only go into space (fly space) if he could operate the spacecraft. He would not agree to be just a traveller.
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0 Hi, Paco, 02 br
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00 I agree with your interpretation but there's a small correction: "He would not go into space himself unlsess 01 b 00 he 02 b 00 could fly it." 02 br
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00 "It" stands for "space", not "return to space". He would only go into space (fly space) if he could operate the spacecraft. He would not agree to be just a travel
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00 I agree with your interpretation but there's a small correction: "He would not go into space himself unlsess 01 b 00 he 02 b 00 could fly it." 02 br
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00 "It" stands for "space", not "return to space". He would only go into space (fly space) if he could operate the spacecraft. He would not agree to be just a travel
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0 Hi guys, 02 br
00 I would say that 'it' refers to the spacecraft that would be used in a return to space. A spacecraft is not mentioned in the paragraph, but it is implicit. 02 br
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00 Best wishes, 02 br
00 Clive 0-
00 I would say that 'it' refers to the spacecraft that would be used in a return to space. A spacecraft is not mentioned in the paragraph, but it is implicit. 02 br
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00 Best wishes, 02 br
00 Clive 0-
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0 Hello Mich and Clive 02 br
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00 Thanks for the replies. 02 br
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00 "Not unless 01 b 00 he 02 b 00 could fly it" sounds too reasonable to be a joke. I wonder if a [url=" 05 0 00 "]CNN article[/url] would pick up such a too normal saying. I don't think it is a typo. 02 br
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00 Clive's interpretation about "it"
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00 Thanks for the replies. 02 br
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00 "Not unless 01 b 00 he 02 b 00 could fly it" sounds too reasonable to be a joke. I wonder if a [url=" 05 0 00 "]CNN article[/url] would pick up such a too normal saying. I don't think it is a typo. 02 br
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00 Clive's interpretation about "it"
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0 Paco, 02 br
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00 I think Miche was correcting your comment: 02 br
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00 not the original paragraph, which contained 02 br
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00 I think Miche was correcting your comment: 02 br
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00 Is it an ellipsis of "He would not go into the space himself unless I could fly it"? 12 blockquote12 br
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00 not the original paragraph, which contained 02 br
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00 "Not unless I could fly it," he
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0 Yes, Paco, I was correcting your sentence, not the original one. 05 0 010id 1
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0 Hello Miche and CJ 02 br
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00 I understand I was completely wrong. 01 blockquote
00 My problem was I mistook "he" as a pronoun to refer to Glenn. This "he" refers to Schirra. 02 br
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00 I understand I was completely wrong. 01 blockquote
00 Would he go back into space himself? "Not unless I could fly it," he says. "I'm not interested in sitting in back." 12 blockquote12 br
00 My problem was I mistook "he" as a pronoun to refer to Glenn. This "he" refers to Schirra. 02 br
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0 Or: 02 br
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00 Reporter:"Would you go back into space yourself?" 02 br
00 Schirra: "I wouldn't do so unless I were allowed to drive the spacecraft myself, because I don't like to sit in the back seat". 02 br
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00 I suppose the 'back seat' part is another little joke (cf. 'take a back seat'). 02 br
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00 MrP 0-
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00 Reporter:"Would you go back into space yourself?" 02 br
00 Schirra: "I wouldn't do so unless I were allowed to drive the spacecraft myself, because I don't like to sit in the back seat". 02 br
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00 I suppose the 'back seat' part is another little joke (cf. 'take a back seat'). 02 br
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00 MrP 0-
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0 Thanks MrP. I got the sense of 'take a back seat'. 02 br
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00 paco 0-
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00 paco 0-
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