Apr 27, 2008 14:43
16 yrs ago
English term
fortunetelle (X)
may have gotten
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
literature
I cannot understand the second paragraph. Can you explain it?
What I did, after I did happen to go to the basement, was to look at eight or nine cartons of books.
What one does after having happened to get some place often having very little to do with why one may have gotten there, however.
So that perhaps I had no reason whatsoever for having gone to the basement yesterday.
What I did, after I did happen to go to the basement, was to look at eight or nine cartons of books.
What one does after having happened to get some place often having very little to do with why one may have gotten there, however.
So that perhaps I had no reason whatsoever for having gone to the basement yesterday.
Responses
| 3 +2 | the reason why one went to some place |
Edith Kelly
|
| 3 +2 | why one went there |
Victoria Porter-Burns
|
| 4 | arrived or came either propelled by the subconscious or by free will |
Melanie Aaron (X)
|
Responses
+2
3 mins
Edith Kelly
Switzerland
Switzerland
Native in English
&
English
Switzerland
Professional conference interpreter
Native in: German 
, English
Works in: German to English, English to German, Dutch to German, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
20
Selected
the reason why one went to some place
What does one do after arriving at some place has not much to do with the reason why one went there in the first instance. The last sentence sheds light on the previous one, the person might have had no reason to go to the basement in the first place. Hope that explains it.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+2
2 mins
Victoria Porter-Burns
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
&
English
United Kingdom
BA(Hons) FITI MCIL CL ISO 17100:2015
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
English term (edited):
why one may have gotten there
why one went there
A US way of saying simply 'why one went there in the first place'.
Note from asker:
| Thanks :) |
2 days 23 hrs
arrived or came either propelled by the subconscious or by free will
To go to the basement seems to be an afterthought - happen is either -
a positive:
to have the fortune or lot
or a negative:
to befall
Without a larger context, it's difficult to say whether the arrival in the basement was of benefit or harmful; however, having found one's self in a location, the speaker looked at boxes of books.
The action of looking at boxes of books: did the speaker look at them as holders of fond memories or of torment? The "at" does not indicate that the speaker touched the boxes, merely looked at them. Maybe subconsciously, the speaker made an excuse to go into the basement, found himself in the basement, looked at the boxes and rejected the reason /attraction of the boxes.
The choice of "gotten" would indicate free will - that the speaker knew he was going there and the reason was related to the boxes.
a positive:
to have the fortune or lot
or a negative:
to befall
Without a larger context, it's difficult to say whether the arrival in the basement was of benefit or harmful; however, having found one's self in a location, the speaker looked at boxes of books.
The action of looking at boxes of books: did the speaker look at them as holders of fond memories or of torment? The "at" does not indicate that the speaker touched the boxes, merely looked at them. Maybe subconsciously, the speaker made an excuse to go into the basement, found himself in the basement, looked at the boxes and rejected the reason /attraction of the boxes.
The choice of "gotten" would indicate free will - that the speaker knew he was going there and the reason was related to the boxes.
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