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meaning of "acting"

 
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imchongjun



Joined: 14 Nov 2005
Posts: 120

PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:13 am    Post subject: meaning of "acting" Reply with quote

Hello, teachers.
I have difficulty in understanding the sentence "when we all get to acting together" in the following quotation.

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(The narrator is taking part in a seance)

We were, we discovered, not to touch the table, but to sit around it at a distance of a few inches, holding hands and thus forming the circle. And for twenty minutes we sat thus, and nothing happened. She was fully conscious and even spoke once or twice, and at last she moved impatiently and told us to put our hands on the table.

I had put my opened watch on the table before me, a night watch with a luminous dial. At five minutes after nine I felt the top of the table waver under my fingers, a curious, fluid-like motion.

"The table is going to move," I said.

Herbert laughed, a dry little chuckle. "Sure it is," he said. "When we all get to acting together, it will probably do considerable moving. I feel what you feel. It's flowing under my fingers."

"Blood," said Sperry. "You fellows feel the blood moving through the ends of your fingers. That's all. Don't be impatient."
==========
I understand that Herbert is skeptical of paranormal phenomenon and making a sarcastic remark, but what does "acting" mean?
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CP



Joined: 12 Jun 2006
Posts: 2875
Location: California

PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The sentence, "When we all get to acting together, it will probably do considerable moving," could be rewritten as, "Once we all start acting / working together, the table will probably move a lot."

To act is to do, to perform some action. The idea is that the table will move a lot as soon as everyone acts / behaves /moves in unison.
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