April 28, 2024
A Difficult Phrase For Me 3
When I was reading a novel about a young man who looks for diamonds, I run into a difficult phrase for me to read.
Could you help me figure it out?
The main character is Jamie. He meets an old man and gets some supports from this old man to find diamonds.
However, Jamie is aware of that this old man deceives him and steals of all the diamonds he found.
The novel contains these lines:
The old man shook his head. "You misunderstood me. I outfitted you and sent you to find diamonds for me."
Jamie could feel a slow rage boiling up within him. "You're lying!"
I don't understand why "could" is used before "feel" in the last sentence.
It's no wonder that Jamie gets angry with the old man from the flow of the story.
So I think the novel might as well says; Jamie felt a slow rage boiling up within him.
I think the "could" in the line is the subjunctive mood like "I could eat a horse."
Am I correct?
If "could" is subjunctive, why the subjective mood needs to be used here?
Why isn't "felt" used for "could feel"?
It would be a big help if you could check and let me know.
ダイアモンドを探す若者の小説を読んでいて、難しい文言を見つけましたので、どう解してよいか教えていただけないでしょうか。
主人公はジェイミーといいます。ジェイミーはある老人に出会い、いろいろと援助を受けます。
ところが、ジェイミーはこの老人に騙され、自分が見つけたダイアモンドを全部盗まれることに気付きます。
小説はこう書いています:
老人は首を横に振った。「君は私の言ったことをを勘違いしたんだ。私は用具一式を与え、私のためにダイアモンドを探してくるよう君を送り出したんだ」
Jamie could feel a slow rage boiling up within him. "ウソつきめ!"
"feel"の前になぜ"could"が使われているのかわかりません。
話の流れからしてジェイミーが老人に怒るのは全然不思議ではないので、"Jamie felt a slow rage boiling up within him. "と書いてもいいのでは思ったりもします。
ここでの"could"は、"お腹が空過ぎて馬でも食べれそうだ"と同じ仮定法だと思いますが、合ってますか?
もし仮定法であれば、なぜここで仮定法が使われなければならないのでしょうか?
なぜ"felt"ではなく"could feel"が使われるのでしょうか?
教えていただけると助かります。
よろしくお願いいたします。
When I was reading a novel about a young man who looksing for diamonds, I run into a phrase that is difficult phrase for me to reaunderstand.
This sentence is mostly grammatical, but I think it sounds more natural the other way around:
> I ran into this passage which I found difficult while reading a novel about a young man looking for diamonds.
Could you help me figure it out?
The main character is Jamie.
He meets an old man and gets some supportsbacking from this old manm to find diamonds.
However, Jamie ibecomes aware of that this old man has deceivesd him and stealsolen of all the diamonds he found.
Relative to Jamie's becoming aware of the old man's behavior, the man's behavior is in the past, thus should be in past tense.
I don't understand why "could" is used before "feel" in the last sentence.
It's no wonder that Jamie gets angry with the old man from the flow of the storyhow the story was playing out.
"flow of the story." strikes me as a little unnatural as opposed to "how the story was playing out," but I think it's fine.
So I think the novel might as well says; Jamie felt a slow rage boiling up within him.
I think the "could" in the line is the subjunctive mood like "I could eat a horse."
I honestly don't understand "subjunctives." I did a little bit of reading after seeing your post, but I don't feel comfortable commenting on whether either is a subjunctive or not.
Mostly what I want to comment on is that "I could eat a horse" is a hypothetical. "Were there a horse here, my stomach is so empty the whole thing would fit inside" is how I've always interpreted it. However, "Jamie could feel a slight rage" is not hypothetical and so it feels very different to me.
Am I correct?
If "could" is subjunctive, why does the subjective mood needs to be used here?
I can't really explain the grammar, but when you start a sentence with "why", a verb is required to follow.
Why isn't "felt" used for "could feel"?
It would be a big help if you could check and let me know.
Feedback
Hmm... it's really hard to tell, even as a native speaker. I imagine there is some very technical reason you could find linguistic papers on. However, there are cases where "could" is required.
> John could tell Sara was annoyed.
If we were to remove "could" here, the sentence would feel very weird.
> John told Sara was annoyed.
> John understood that Sara was annoyed (fixed)
Frankly, the meaning seems exactly the same to me, but "could" adds maybe a bit of an indirect feeling. I really can't say, though.
April 29, 2024
Thank you for the explanation. I kind of understand. "could" is probably used to avoid speaking a fixed thing because it's not fixed yet.
April 29, 2024
The question about using "could feel" instead of "felt" is a very good one. It's possible that the author may have worded it that way because they think it sounds better or flows off of the tongue better. You could compare it to what musicians do when they write lyrics. Sometimes, they have to find creative ways to get the perfect number of syllables to match the rhythm of a song. Maybe having two words there instead of one was a better flow for the author.
Of course, as splinterofchaos has said, it's possible that there's a more technical reason for the use of "could" in this situation.
April 30, 2024
I think I actually agree with one of the responses below about it having a nuance of the rage *starting* as opposed to it being in full swing. When I read this, I had a slight inkling of "could" having a nuance of it being barely perceptible and someone I asked about this (I was curious myself) conveyed the same idea back to me without me prompting them to.
English is hard.
May 3, 2024
To superEghost and sprinterofchaos,
Thank you for the comments.
Yes, English is hard.
A Difficult Phrase For Me 3
When I was reading a novel about a young man who looks for diamonds, I ruan into a difficult phrase for me to read.
Could you help me figure it out?
The main character is Jamie.
He meets an old man and gets some supports from this old man to find diamonds.
However, Jamie dis aware ofcovers that this old man is deceivesing him and steals ofing all of the diamonds he found.
The novel contains these lines: The old man shook his head.
"You misunderstood me.
I outfitted you and sent you to find diamonds for me."
Jamie could feel a slow rage boiling up within him.
"You're lying!"
I don't understand why "could" is used before "feel" in the last sentence.
It's no wonder that Jamie gets angry with the old man from the flow of the story.
So I think the novel might as well says; , "Jamie felt a slow rage boiling up within him."
I think the "could" in the line is the subjunctive mood like "I could eat a horse."
Am I correct?
If "could" is subjunctive, why does the subjective mood needs to be used here?
Why isn't "felt" used for "could feel"?
It would be a big help if you could check and let me know.
Feedback
"Could" in the novel is emphasizing ability. Both "could feel" and "felt" can be used and I think it's just a stylistic choice. From what I understand, it's kind of like 感じられる vs 感じる。
April 29, 2024
Oh I see. It's like a description from a perspective of an outsider. Thank you for the explanation!
When I was reading a novel about a young man who looks for diamonds, I ruan into a difficult phrase for me to read.
Run is the present tense, ran is the past tense.
Could you help me figure it out?
The main character is Jamie.
He meets an old man and gets some supports from this old man to find diamonds.
However, Jamie is aware of that this old man deceives him and steals of all of the diamonds he found.
The novel contains these lines: The old man shook his head.
"You misunderstood me.
I outfitted you and sent you to find diamonds for me."
Jamie could feel a slow rage boiling up within him.
"You're lying!"
I don't understand why "could" is used before "feel" in the last sentence.
It's no wonder that Jamie gets angry with the old man from the flow of the story.
So I think the novel might as well says; Jamie felt a slow rage boiling up within him.
I think the "could" in the line is the subjunctive mood like "I could eat a horse."
Am I correct?
If "could" is subjunctive, why does the subjective mood needs to be used here?
Why isn't "felt" used for "could feel"?
It would be a big help if you could check and let me know.
Feedback
My interpretation is that “could” is used because of the narrative style of the story. “Felt” would also be correct. “Could feel” is used to describe what the characters are experiencing in that moment, similar to saying something like “He dropped a book in class, and could feel everyone staring at him”. It’s a style of narrating a story in the past.
April 29, 2024
Thank you for the explanation. I'm getting at that "could" is used when the character is experiencing in that moment.
A Difficult Phrase For Me 3
When I was reading a novel about a young man who looksing for diamonds, I ruan into a difficult phrase for me to read.
Couldan you help me figure it out?
The main character's name is Jamie.
He meets an old man and gets some supports from this old manains his support to find diamonds.
However, Jamie ibecomes aware of that this old man is deceivesing him and planning to steals of all the diamonds he found.
The novel contains these lines:
¶¶
The old man shook his head.
"You misunderstood me.
I outfitted you and sent you to find diamonds for me."
Jamie could feel a slow rage boiling up within him.
"You're lying!"
I don't understand why "could" is used before "feel" in the second-to-last sentence.
It's no wonder thatBased on the flow of the story, it's obvious why Jamie gets angry with the old man from the flow of the story.
So I think the novel might as well says;should say that Jamie felt a slow rage boiling up within him.
I think the "could" in the line ireflects the subjunctive mood, like "I could eat a horse."
Am I correct?
If "could" is subjunctive, why the subjective mood needs to beis it being used here?
Why isn't it "felt" used forinstead of "could feel"?
It would be a big help if you could check and let me know.
Feedback
"Jamie could feel a slow rage boiling up within him."
In this case, the slow rage isn't quite there yet. It's only starting to build. If "he felt a slow rage," it means he was already angry, in that moment. By saying "he could feel a slow rage boiling..." it means he's not quite reached the angry stage yet. It will take a little more for him to snap.
Does that makes sense?
April 29, 2024
Yes that makes sense. Your explanation cleared up my question. Thank you!
I think the "could" in the line is the subjunctive mood like "I could eat a horse."
Why isn't "felt" used for "could feel"?
"could feel" in this context means that one wouldn't normally be able to feel this sensation. Another example would be "The room was so loud that you could hear a pin drop." This means someone wouldn't be able to hear a pin drop but the room was so quiet that it might as well be possible.
April 29, 2024
Oh I got it. One wouldn't normally be able to feel this sensation, so "could" is used when one is experiencing it for the first time or in a special situation. Thank you for the explanation!
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If "could" is subjunctive, why the subjective mood needs to be used here? If "could" is subjunctive, why does the subjective mood need If "could" is subjunctive, why If "could" is subjunctive, why does the subjective mood need I can't really explain the grammar, but when you start a sentence with "why", a verb is required to follow.
If "could" is subjunctive, why does the subjective mood need |
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Why isn't "felt" used for "could feel"? Why isn't "felt" used for "could feel"? "could feel" in this context means that one wouldn't normally be able to feel this sensation. Another example would be "The room was so loud that you could hear a pin drop." This means someone wouldn't be able to hear a pin drop but the room was so quiet that it might as well be possible.
Why isn't it "felt" |
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It would be a big help if you could check and let me know. It would be a big help if you could |
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A Difficult Phrase For Me 3 |
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When I was reading a novel about a young man who looks for diamonds, I run into a difficult phrase for me to read. When I was reading a novel about a young man who looks for diamonds, I r Run is the present tense, ran is the past tense.
When I was reading a novel about a young man When I was reading a novel about a young man This sentence is mostly grammatical, but I think it sounds more natural the other way around:
> I ran into this passage which I found difficult while reading a novel about a young man looking for diamonds. When I was reading a novel about a young man who looks for diamonds, I r |
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Could you help me figure it out? C |
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The main character is Jamie. The main character's name is Jamie. |
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He meets an old man and gets some supports from this old man to find diamonds. He meets an old man and g He meets an old man and gets some He meets an old man and gets |
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However, Jamie is aware of that this old man deceives him and steals of all the diamonds he found. However, Jamie is aware of that this old man deceives him and steals However, Jamie However, Jamie Relative to Jamie's becoming aware of the old man's behavior, the man's behavior is in the past, thus should be in past tense.
However, Jamie dis |
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The novel contains these lines: The old man shook his head. The novel contains these lines: |
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"You misunderstood me. |
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I outfitted you and sent you to find diamonds for me." |
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Jamie could feel a slow rage boiling up within him. |
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"You're lying!" |
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I don't understand why "could" is used before "feel" in the last sentence. I don't understand why "could" is used before "feel" in the second-to-last sentence. |
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It's no wonder that Jamie gets angry with the old man from the flow of the story.
It's no wonder that Jamie gets angry with the old man from "flow of the story." strikes me as a little unnatural as opposed to "how the story was playing out," but I think it's fine.
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So I think the novel might as well says; Jamie felt a slow rage boiling up within him. So I think the novel might as well say So I think the novel So I think the novel might as well say |
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Am I correct? |
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I think the "could" in the line is the subjunctive mood like "I could eat a horse." I think the "could" in the line I think the "could" in the line is the subjunctive mood like "I could eat a horse." I honestly don't understand "subjunctives." I did a little bit of reading after seeing your post, but I don't feel comfortable commenting on whether either is a subjunctive or not.
Mostly what I want to comment on is that "I could eat a horse" is a hypothetical. "Were there a horse here, my stomach is so empty the whole thing would fit inside" is how I've always interpreted it. However, "Jamie could feel a slight rage" is not hypothetical and so it feels very different to me. |
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