kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 11:41:08 GMT
"It's the right syllable count" would work!
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kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 11:41:58 GMT
Now to my job
Who knows!
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kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 11:42:30 GMT
Now to my task
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Post by Pacifica on Jan 23, 2024 11:44:15 GMT
Manfred
By George Gordon, Lord Byron
Act I
SCENE I. MANFRED alone -- Scene, a Gothic gallery -- Time, Midnight.
MANFRED
The lamp must be replenish'd, but even then
It will not burn so long as I must watch:
My slumbers -- if I slumber -- are not sleep,
But a continuance of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not: in my heart
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within; and yet I live, and bear
The aspect and the form of breathing men.
But grief should be the instructor of the wise;
Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most
Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth,
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs
Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world,
I have essayed, and in my mind there is
A power to make these subject to itself--
But they _______ not: I have done men good,
And I have met with good even among men--
But this _______ not: I have had my foes,
And none have baffled, many fallen before me--
But this _______ not: -- Good, or evil, life,
Powers, passions, all I see in other beings,
Have been to me as rain unto the _______,
Since that all-nameless hour. I have no dread,
And feel the curse to have no natural fear,
Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes,
Or lurking love of something on the earth.--
Now to my task.--
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Jan 23, 2024 15:55:36 GMT
I'm reasonably sure that it's not 'rain unto the duck' for Huxley/Tennyson reasons. But you have to admit it would fit the sense.
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Jan 23, 2024 15:56:23 GMT
'Avail(s)' for the verb?
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Post by Pacifica on Jan 23, 2024 16:02:48 GMT
Manfred
By George Gordon, Lord Byron
Act I
SCENE I. MANFRED alone -- Scene, a Gothic gallery -- Time, Midnight.
MANFRED
The lamp must be replenish'd, but even then
It will not burn so long as I must watch:
My slumbers -- if I slumber -- are not sleep,
But a continuance of enduring thought,
Which then I can resist not: in my heart
There is a vigil, and these eyes but close
To look within; and yet I live, and bear
The aspect and the form of breathing men.
But grief should be the instructor of the wise;
Sorrow is knowledge: they who know the most
Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth,
The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life.
Philosophy and science, and the springs
Of wonder, and the wisdom of the world,
I have essayed, and in my mind there is
A power to make these subject to itself--
But they avail not: I have done men good,
And I have met with good even among men--
But this avail'd not: I have had my foes,
And none have baffled, many fallen before me--
But this avail'd not: -- Good, or evil, life,
Powers, passions, all I see in other beings,
Have been to me as rain unto the _______,
Since that all-nameless hour. I have no dread,
And feel the curse to have no natural fear,
Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes,
Or lurking love of something on the earth.--
Now to my task.--
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Jan 23, 2024 16:39:09 GMT
With respect to 'number', I've often idly wondered if one could get away with saying 'there is a number of X' when that number is one, or zero. Sharp-eared listeners might notice the singular verb. But most people don't really listen.
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kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 16:47:33 GMT
frog
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kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 16:51:57 GMT
With respect to 'number', I've often idly wondered if one could get away with saying 'there is a number of X' when that number is one, or zero. Sharp-eared listeners might notice the singular verb. But most people don't really listen. I had a discussion with an Australian linguistics student some 10-15 years ago. I can't remember the exact wording, but he said something like "English speakers can't count". Among other things he was interested in sentences where "there's" was used with a plural noun. |
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kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 16:53:45 GMT
I think what prompted the discussion was something I'd said in English that sounded a little awkward, but whose French equivalent was totally fine. Something like "a majority of people is", where at least the common usage in American English would have been "are".
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Post by Etaoin Shrdlu on Jan 23, 2024 16:58:28 GMT
In British English as well. Also, people tend to use a plural verb with collective nouns, which doesn't happen in AE.
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Post by Pacifica on Jan 23, 2024 17:04:31 GMT
The last blank is something from the natural world, but not an animal.
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kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 17:11:37 GMT
sand
It doesn't feel particularly right, but oh well.
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kizolk
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Post by kizolk on Jan 23, 2024 17:24:02 GMT
In British English as well. Also, people tend to use a plural verb with collective nouns, which doesn't happen in AE. Now that you say it, I think I've seen "police are" rings a bell but I might be making it up. On the other end of the confusion spectrum, "he's good people" (which I associate with AE) is weird but I like it. |
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