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This question is Not Answered
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HSS
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564096
Tue, 09 Sep 08 01:05 PM
The following is an excerpt from a book I'm reading:
But ... as bad as it was, I learned something about myself. That I could go through something like that and survive. I mean, I know it could have been worse --- a lot worse --- but for me, it was all I could have handled at the time. And I learned from it.
Shouldn't "I could have handled" be "I could handle"?
Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
Joined on
Wed, Nov 16 2005
Sendai, Japan
Regular Member
681
JH7JHH, First Class ham radio operator. N9COW in the US.
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Huevos
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564113
Tue, 09 Sep 08 02:15 PM
It could be either. " I could have handled" is subjunctive. " I could handle" is indicative.
Joined on
Tue, Mar 25 2008
Regular Member
626
British Native
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Cool Breeze
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564138
Tue, 09 Sep 08 04:10 PM
Like you, I would prefer I could handle since whatever the person "could go through" really happened. CB
Joined on
Fri, Apr 7 2006
Senior Member
3,970
"I hope you'll all live to be 150 years old - and the last voice you hear is mine!" Frank Sinatra on stage in Oslo, Norway, 28 September 1991
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HSS
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564295
Wed, 10 Sep 08 12:09 AM
 HSS“
But ... as bad as it was, I learned something about myself. That I could go through something like that and survive. I mean, I know it could have been worse --- a lot worse --- but for me, it was all I could have handled at the time. And I learned from it.
”
Yes, and I think "and" instead of "but" is more like it. Also, "all" should be "the least"??? I can't get this part. Anybody, please, enlighten me on this.
Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
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Cool Breeze
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564438
Wed, 10 Sep 08 10:06 AM
HSS “ HSS “
But ... as bad as it was, I learned something about myself. That I could go through something like that and survive. I mean, I know it could have been worse --- a lot worse --- but for me, it was all I could have handled at the time. And I learned from it.
”
Yes, and I think "and" instead of "but" is more like it. Also, "all" should be "the least"??? I can't get this part. Anybody, please, enlighten me on this. ”
I agree that and would be a better conjunction but I wouldn't change all to the least. All means pretty much the same as "the most" or "the maximum". The speaker is saying that he wouldn't have been able to handle a bigger burden or a greater task. The excerpt isn't particularly grammatical because it appears to be not from a written text but from someone's train of thought. This is obvious from That I could go through... That is a conjunction which normally begins a subordinate clause, not a sentence. Another feature indicative of colloquial style is the last sentence, which begins with and. And doesn't usually begin a sentence. There are several other colloquialisms. CB
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HSS
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564833
Thu, 11 Sep 08 08:05 AM
Hi,
Just why do you think the author used "but" there? I mean, isn't it almost wrong to use it in the sentence? It does not conncet the clauses properly. Or, does it?
Hiro/ Sendai, Japan
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Cool Breeze
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564838
Thu, 11 Sep 08 08:16 AM
HSS “ Just why do you think the author used "but" there? I mean, isn't it almost wrong to use it in the sentence? It does not conncet the clauses properly. Or, does it?
Hiro/ Sendai, Japan ”
No, it doesn't. Don't the Japanese ever make grammatical mistakes or mistakes in syntax when they think?  CB
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Huevos
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Thu, 11 Sep 08 09:53 AM
Cool Breeze “No, it doesn't.”
I don't agree. In my opinion " and" would not be at home in this context. If we simplify the sentence it makes it clearer, to me at least, that " but" is correct. " It could have been worse, but it was all I could handle". How is "but" wrong here?
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Cool Breeze
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564900
Thu, 11 Sep 08 12:26 PM
Huevos “I don't agree. In my opinion " and" would not be at home in this context. If we simplify the sentence it makes it clearer, to me at least, that " but" is correct. " It could have been worse, but it was all I could handle". How is "but" wrong here? ”
Fine. Disagreeing is normal in life. To me, the incorrect use of the perfect infinitive after could and some other stylistic devices used in the passage make it a little inexact, which may even have been the author's intention. That's why I don't really know what he had in mind when he said/wrote those words. And I don't particularly care what he intended to say anyway. CB
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