| Find mistake: The dense Belgian fogs, like the most inland fogs... | 'connected to' or 'connected with' |
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 Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:32 am Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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| Quote: | By the time the man with the camera had cut across
our neighbor’s yard, the twins were out of the trees
swingin low and Granny was onto the steps, the screen
door bammin soft and scratchy against her palms.
“We thought we’d get a shot or two of the house
and everything and then . . .”
“Good mornin,” Granny cut him off. And smiled
that smile.
“Good mornin,” he said, head all down the way
Bingo does when you yell at him about the bones on
the kitchen fl oor. “Nice place you got here, aunty.
We thought we’d take a . . .”
“Did you?” said Granny with her eyebrows. Cathy
pulled up her socks and giggled.
“Nice things here,” said the man buzzin his camera
over the yard. The pecan barrels, the sled, me and
Cathy, the fl owers, the painted stones along the
driveway, the trees, the twins, the toolshed.
“I don’t know about the thing, the it, and the stuff,”
said Granny still talkin with her eyebrows. “Just
people here is what I tend to consider.”
Camera man stopped buzzin. Cathy giggled into
her collar.
“Mornin, ladies,” a new man said. He had come up
behind us when we weren’t lookin. “And gents,”
discoverin the twins givin him a nasty look. “We’re
fi lmin for the county,” he said with a smile. “Mind if
we shoot a bit around here?”
“I do indeed,” said Granny with no smile.
Smilin man was smiling up a storm. So was Cathy.
But he didn’t seem to have another word to say, so he
and the camera man backed on out the yard, but you
could hear the camera buzzin still.
“Suppose you just shut that machine off,” said
Granny real low through her teeth and took a step
down off the porch and then another.
“Now, aunty,” Camera said pointin the thing
straight at her.
“Your mama and I are not related.”
(1971) |
Hi, I have some questions about this.
1) I thought that a clause which follows "by the time" must be in simple tense (simple present, simple past ...). Why does the author make it past perfect here ? (had cut across).
2) What does "the twins out of the trees swingin low" mean ? Did the kids fall from the tree ?
3) What does "swingin low" mean ? low here is adjective or adverb ?
4) What does "onto the steps" mean ?
5) What does "bammin soft and scratchy against her palms" mean ?
Thanks so much |
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sympathy
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 91
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| Wed Jan 23, 2008 11:56 am literature |
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| Quote: | By the time the man with the camera had cut across
our neighbor’s yard, the twins were out of the trees
swingin low and Granny was onto the steps, the screen
door bammin soft and scratchy against her palms. |
| sympathy wrote: | | 1) I thought that a clause which follows "by the time" must be in simple tense (simple present, simple past ...). Why does the author make it past perfect here? (had cut across). |
Clauses that follow "by the time" don't have to be followed by a simple tense. They are followed by whatever tense is appropriate to the situation. In this case, the author is narrating about a time in the past. The man's cutting across the yard was a finished action before that, so it calls for the past perfect tense.
| sympathy wrote: | | 2) What does "the twins out of the trees swingin low" mean ? Did the kids fall from the tree? |
The kids had climbed the trees and had been playing in them. By this time, the kids had climbed down from the trees, and they were either swinging by their hands from the lower branches, or they were swinging on a tire or a board that had been hung from a tree with ropes. It's not clear how they're swinging.
Notice that the phrase "swinging low" is supposed to make the reader think of the Negro spiritual song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". This song is sung slowly, so it appears that the kids are swinging in a slow, relaxed way.
| sympathy wrote: | | 3) What does "swingin low" mean? low here is adjective or adverb? |
It's an adverb.
| sympathy wrote: | | 4) What does "onto the steps" mean? |
Onto the front porch. The steps leading from the front or back door to the yard.
| sympathy wrote: | | 5) What does "bammin soft and scratchy against her palms" mean? |
When screen doors close, they make a loud "BAM!" noise. As the door was closing, and getting read to make that noise, the door must have passed across the palm of her hand, and it felt both soft and scratchy.
Sympathy, don't put spaces before your punctuation. There should be no space between a question mark and the word before it. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Wed Jan 23, 2008 14:50 pm Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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Hi Jamie. I don't understand "getting read to make that noise." What does this mean?
And anyway, Oxford dictionary defines "screen" as "a wire or plastic net that is held in a frame and fastened on a window, or a door, to let in air but keep out insects." So what is the "sreen window"? Is it a kind of curtain?
Why can it make a "bam" noise ?
[QUOTE=Jamie]
Sympathy, don't put spaces before your punctuation. There should be no space between a question mark and the word before it.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks so much!!! |
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sympathy
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 91
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| Wed Jan 23, 2008 15:07 pm Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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| sympathy wrote: | Hi Jamie. I don't understand "getting read to make that noise." What does this mean?
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getting ready 
(Am I right, Jamie?)
_________________
Alex
How much upchuck would a woodchuck upchuck if a woodchuck could upchuck ?
(a guy from Russia) |
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 lost_soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1812
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
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| Wed Jan 23, 2008 15:54 pm Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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| sympathy wrote: | | Hi Jamie. I don't understand "getting read to make that noise." What does this mean? |
I think this is a typo. Alex is right. It should probably be "getting ready".
| sympathy wrote: | | And anyway, Oxford dictionary defines "screen" as "a wire or plastic net that is held in a frame and fastened on a window, or a door, to let in air but keep out insects." So what is the "screen window"? Is it a kind of curtain? |
No. It's wire mesh in a wood frame.
Here is a picture of a screen door that's probably like the one in your story:
| sympathy wrote: | | Why can it make a "bam" noise ? |
Because it's attached to a spring that pulls it shut. The wooden frame of the screen hits the door frame, and it makes that noise. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Thu Jan 24, 2008 13:31 pm Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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| Thank you, Jamie |
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sympathy
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 91
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| Thu Jan 24, 2008 13:50 pm Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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I have several more questions.
| Quote: | By the time the man with the camera had cut across
our neighbor’s yard, the twins were out of the trees
swingin low and Granny was onto the steps, the screen
door bammin soft and scratchy against her palms.
“We thought we’d get a shot or two of the house
and everything and then . . .”
“Good mornin,” Granny cut him off. And smiled
that smile.
“Good mornin,” he said, head all down the way
Bingo does when you yell at him about the bones on
the kitchen fl oor. “Nice place you got here, aunty.
We thought we’d take a . . .”
“Did you?” said Granny with her eyebrows. Cathy
pulled up her socks and giggled.
“Nice things here,” said the man buzzin his camera
over the yard. The pecan barrels, the sled, me and
Cathy, the fl owers, the painted stones along the
driveway, the trees, the twins, the toolshed.
“I don’t know about the thing, the it, and the stuff,”
said Granny still talkin with her eyebrows. “Just
people here is what I tend to consider.”
Camera man stopped buzzin. Cathy giggled into
her collar.
“Mornin, ladies,” a new man said. He had come up
behind us when we weren’t lookin. “And gents,”
discoverin the twins givin him a nasty look. “We’re
fi lmin for the county,” he said with a smile. “Mind if
we shoot a bit around here?”
“I do indeed,” said Granny with no smile.
Smilin man was smiling up a storm. So was Cathy.
But he didn’t seem to have another word to say, so he
and the camera man backed on out the yard, but you
could hear the camera buzzin still.
“Suppose you just shut that machine off,” said
Granny real low through her teeth and took a step
down off the porch and then another.
“Now, aunty,” Camera said pointin the thing
straight at her.
“Your mama and I are not related.”
(1971)
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1)What does "And smiled that smile" mean?
2)What does "with her eyebrows" mean?
3)What is the toolshed?
4)What does "the thing, the it, and the stuff" mean? What does it suggest about the tone of the Aunt Granny?
5)What does "smiling up a storm" mean? I guess it means "very much", "smile very much." Is that correct? But anyway I can't understand the tone of this phrase. What else does the author imply?
6)I thought that "swingin" and "bammin" are typos. But it turns out that every "ing" is turned into "in." So what's wrong with swinging, bamming, talking, buzzing, looking? Why did the author write swingin, bammin, talkin, buzzin, lookin.
I first saw the 'in' in Of Mice and Men, but those 'in's were in spoken language and had apostrophes: lookin', givin', etc
But here is written language, and why isn't there an apostrophe? |
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sympathy
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 91
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| Thu Jan 24, 2008 13:52 pm Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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| 7)What does the Camera man mean by "Now Aunty". What about the tone? |
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sympathy
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 91
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| Thu Jan 24, 2008 14:06 pm Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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| sympathy wrote: | | 1)What does "And smiled that smile" mean? |
Gave some smile that people are familiar with in a certain situation or in a certain person.
| sympathy wrote: | | 2)What does "with her eyebrows" mean? |
The question was not expressed in words, but in the motion of her eyebrows.
| sympathy wrote: | | 3)What is the toolshed? |
A shed for tools. (It's dictionary time.)
| sympathy wrote: | | 4)What does "the thing, the it, and the stuff" mean? What does it suggest about the tone of the Aunt Granny? |
She doesn't care about the objects the man is looking at, so she can't explain anything about them. She only cares about the people.
| sympathy wrote: | | 5)What does "smiling up a storm" mean? I guess it means "very much", "smile very much." Is that correct? But anyway I can't understand the tone of this phrase. What else does the author imply? |
It has somewhat of tone or happiness or enthusiasm, at least in this case.
| sympathy wrote: | 6)I thought that "swingin" and "bammin" are typos. But it turns out that every "ing" is turned into "in." So what's wrong with swinging, bamming, talking, buzzing, looking? Why did the author write swingin, bammin, talkin, buzzin, lookin.
I first saw the 'in' in Of Mice and Men, but those 'in's were in spoken language and had apostrophes: lookin', givin', etc
But here is written language, and why isn't there an apostrophe? |
The author has left out the "g" because he or she wants the narrative to be in something that sounds like spoken English of the southern US, or African-American English (which is largely a southern dialect). The writer left out the apostrophe simply because he or she wanted to leave out the apostrophe. The author was breaking convention. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4337
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:19 am Literature question: What does "onto the steps" mean? |
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| Thanks |
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sympathy
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Dec 2007
Posts: 91
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| Find mistake: The dense Belgian fogs, like the most inland fogs... | 'connected to' or 'connected with' |
