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jasonlulu_2000
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 879
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 Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:19 am Post subject: what does they mean? |
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But when he heard the scream, followed by someone yelling, "oh, my God, she fell in!" Frank didn't hesitate. He jumped down to the tracks and ran some 40 feet toward the body lying on the rails. "No! Not you!" his girlfriend screamed after him.
She was right to be alarmed. By the time Frank reached Lisa, he could feel the tracks shaking and see the light coming. The train was about 20 seconds from the station.
What does the underlined sentence mean? Why does the author use the passive voice?
2. Everyone in the class made a poster. Some of us used parts of those fancy paper napkins.
What does "paper napkins" mean?
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dragn
Joined: 17 Feb 2009
Posts: 450
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:00 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
She was right to be alarmed. By the time Frank reached Lisa, he could feel the tracks shaking and see the light coming. The train was about 20 seconds from the station.
What does the underlined sentence mean? Why does the author use the passive voice? |
She was right to be alarmed: It was the correct, natural response to an alarming situation. She had good reason to be alarmed...she could see that the train was coming and that Frank was in imminent danger! And I wouldn't consider this the passive voice.
This is a gray area in English. There are sentences in which a past participle following a BE-verb is simply considered an adjective, and there are sentences in which a past participle following a BE-verb is a passive voice construction...and it's sometimes not easy to tell the difference. Generally context is the key. If the emphasis is on the condition or state of being of the subject, we would tend to consider it an adjective. If the emphasis is on the action that was done to the subject, we would tend to consider it a passive voice construction. For example:
Susan was tired by the two-hour aerobics session. (Passive voice: the exercise clearly did that to her�it tired her.)
Susan was tired even before she started the two-hour aerobics session. (Adjective: there's no emphasis on anything actually making her tired; that was her condition at the time she started her aerobics.)
However, regardless of whether you consider it the passive voice or not, try putting it into an "active" form:
The imminent danger in which Frank found himself due to the rapidly oncoming train alarmed her, and that sure was the right way for her to feel.  
Ouch. Good luck with that.
| Quote: |
2. Everyone in the class made a poster. Some of us used parts of those fancy paper napkins.
What does "paper napkins" mean? |
These are basically somewhat thicker, heavier tissues which can be used as napkins (which are usually only made of cloth in restaurants that are too expensive for poor English teachers like me  ).
Greg |
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jasonlulu_2000
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 879
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:44 am Post subject: thanks |
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| Once again, thank you very much. |
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