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Clay to-day

  • 18-10-2015 3:39pm
    #1
    Irish Stones
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,308 ✭✭✭


    I found this passage in a book that I am reading.
    It talks about an old church that once was held in high respect... "and in its clay to-day will be found the remains of a noble Queen..."
    I can't figure out what "clay to-day" might mean, can you please help me?
    The passage is from a 1876 text, so it can be a bit obsolete.
    Thank you!


Comments

  • #2
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    Two small things to clear up: (1) there should not be a hyphen in to-day; (2) there isn't much reason to have the word today in the sentence.

    "In the clay" is another way of saying buried. A "noble queen" is buried beside the church.


  • #3
    Irish Stones
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,308 ✭✭✭Irish Stones


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    Two small things to clear up: (1) there should not be a hyphen in to-day; (2) there isn't much reason to have the word today in the sentence.

    "In the clay" is another way of saying buried. A "noble queen" is buried beside the church.

    Thanks!
    The sentence is right how it's written. I skipped what's before those words, but nothing is missing in the context.
    Could it mean that "the church is very old and that TODAY (at the time of the writing, 1876) we can find the remains of a noble queen buried in its ground"?
    This is what I thought in the first place, but I also thought it was an obsolete way of saying.


  • #4
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    Irish Stones wrote: »
    ...
    Could it mean that "the church is very old and that TODAY (at the time of the writing, 1876) we can find the remains of a noble queen buried in its ground"?
    ...
    Yes.

    But note "we can find the remains ...". That is in the present tense, so it includes the idea of "today". Using the word today is grammatically correct, does not break the rules of syntax. But nothing would be lost from the meaning if the word today was omitted.

    I think you are right to focus attention on the date of the work. Most writing in the 19th century was far more verbose than is customary in our times.

    [I have been told that Italian formal writing still has a tradition of verbosity.]


  • #5
    Irish Stones
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,308 ✭✭✭Irish Stones


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    Yes.

    But note "we can find the remains ...". That is in the present tense, so it includes the idea of "today". Using the word today is grammatically correct, does not break the rules of syntax. But nothing would be lost from the meaning if the word today was omitted.

    I think you are right to focus attention on the date of the work. Most writing in the 19th century was far more verbose than is customary in our times.

    Thanks a million! :)
    [I have been told that Italian formal writing still has a tradition of verbosity.]

    I couldn't tell you, sure the formal writing is very different from everyday speaking, but I couldn't tell if the writing is verbose. I see it as another style.
    What is really absurd is the "politics" writing, the way laws and decrees are written, using words that might mean something different from what we understand in the normal speaking (typical example is the word "ovvero" that in the normal speaking means "that is, in other words" when they mean "or"), or obsolete words, and this creates confusion, misunderstanding and the feeling that politicians live in a world of their own, where their main occupation is cheating us :mad:


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