Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromi525]

The following sentences are from a reading textbook.

An expert can hit a bull's-eye many times in a row from a good distance away. In door contests, perfect scores from forty yards are common.
Matches have been lost when a winning arrow was stopped by one already in the bull's-eye.

What does "when a winning arrow was stopped by one" mean?
What "one " is indicating ?

[pugachevV]

One refers to an arrow.

When a winning arrow was stopped by one already in the bulls-eye
means that the arrow that would have won the competition (a winning arrow) hit an arrow that was already stuck in the bulls-eye and either fell to the ground, or was deflected to a lower scoring part of the target.

[hiromi525]

I have yet to understand what the sentence mean.

I was able to find out that one refers to an arrow and a winning arrow means that the arrow that would have won the competition.

But I can not visualize the situation.
Can you please paraphrase the original sentence?

[redset]

It's saying that a great shot which is going to hit the bulls-eye (a shot which would have raised the archer's score high enough to win the competition) can often hit another arrow which is already stuck in the bulls-eye, causing the first arrow to miss and losing points for the archer. The text is saying that the archers are so good that they're landing most (or even all!) of their arrows in the bulls-eye, which leads to the problem of their bulls-eye being full of arrows which get in the way of later shots!

[hiromi525]

Thank to your explanation, I finallly understand what the sentence says.

Winning run in Japanese means that the winner of the competion is running around the athletic field to show gratitude to spectators.
so I misundstand that the archer who shot the winning arrow already won the game.
Correct English is a victory lap.

pugachevV had explained that a winning arrow is the one that would have won the competion.

[hiromi525]

I look up my grammer book to distinguish the usage of present participle from that of gerund.
The following are the explanation from the grammer book.

a sleeping child is categorized into present participle.
This is because this means a child who is sleeping.

a sleeping car is categorized into gerund.
This is because this means a car for sleeping.

Going back to the usage of winning arrow, which category does winning arrow belong to? present participle or gerand?

[pugachevV]

It is a present participle used as an adjective.
A winning arrow = an arrow that wins.
A gerund is a participle used as a noun.
Winning is difficult.
Flying is fun.
etc.

[hiromi525]

According to previous post, I understand that archer who shot winning arrow was not able to win the game.

[pugachevV]

OK Hiro lets' try and explain the concept of a winning arrow.

Let's suppose I am an archer and I'm shooting at a target with 12 arrows against 2 other archers, who are shooting with 12 arrows at their own targets.

Let's say that the bullseye (the highest scoring part in the centre of the target) counts for 7 points if an arrow sticks in it.

The highest possible score is therefore 84 ( 12 x 7).

Let's assume that Archer #1 has finished his round with a sore of 83.
Let's assume that Archer #2 has finished his round with a score of 82.
Let's assume that I already have a score of 77 and I have one more arrow to shoot.
If this arrow hits the bullseye, I will win the competition because my score will be 84.

I line up my last arrow: I shoot: The arrow flies straight and true. It will hit the bullseye and it will be the arrow that wins the competition (the winning arrow) because now I will have a score of 84.
Get out the Champagne!
BUT, there are already 11 arrows packed in the bullseye, which is not very big.
My last arrow (which would have been the winning arrow) hits an arrow that is already stuck in the bullseye and falls to the ground.
My winning arrow does not score anything and so my score stays at 77.

So, although the winning arrow didn't actually win, the writer has nevertheless still called it a winning arrow. He has extended the idea of the winning arrow to include the arrow that would have won if it had not been prevented from doing so by an arrow already stuck in the bullseye.

[hiromi525]

Dear pugachevV
Thank to your explanation, I can visualize the situation.

[pugachevV]

I bet you want to take up kyudo now !