Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[fw]

Hello everyone.

The passage below is from Umberto Eco�s �How to React to Familiar Faces.�

I might as well have grabbed Anthony Quinn by the lapel, dragged him to a phone booth, and called a friend to say, �Talk about coincidence! I�ve run into Anthony Quinn. And you know something? He seems real!� (After which I would throw Quinn aside and go on about my business.)

My questions:
1. What do you think the phrase �go on about my business� means in the last sentence? Could you paraphrase it?

2. I�m interested in the phrase �would throw �� in �after which I would throw Quinn aside�.� I think it would have been more correct grammatically if �would throw �� had been �would have thrown �.� What do you think?


Best regards,
Fwkk8769

[Mister Micawber]

.
1-- go on about my business = continue doing what I was doing or had planned to do (before running into Anthony Quinn, in this instance).

2-- I think Eco has slipped into the present-for-past narrative ('You know what happened to me yesterday?-- I go to the office as usual, you know, but the door's locked! Nobody's there!'.... etc)
.