We have partnered with TradePub to bring you free industry magazines and resources - no coupons or credit cards required!
Visit: englishforums.tradepub.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
MrPedantic
+
271518
Sun, 24 Sep 06 01:37 AM
 Milky wrote: | | MrPedantic wrote: | Cf. Trollope, in his Autobiography:
1. I have from the first felt sure that the writer, when he sits down to commence his novel, should do so, not because he has to tell a story, but because he has a story to tell.
MrP
|
|
Doesn't every good writer feel the necessity to write? |
|
Trollope only says "writer". MrP
Joined on
Tue, Oct 12 2004
Veteran Member
12,592
...opella forensis / adducit febris...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
milky
+
271521
Sun, 24 Sep 06 01:42 AM
| MrPedantic wrote: |
Trollope only says "writer".
MrP |
|
Correction, he says "THE writer", meaning, all writers.
Joined on
Thu, Jan 15 2004
Senior Member
3,149
Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MrPedantic
+
271525
Sun, 24 Sep 06 01:46 AM
| Milky wrote: | | MrPedantic wrote: |
Trollope only says "writer".
MrP |
|
Correction, he says "THE writer", meaning, all writers.
|
|
Precisely. MrP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LearningNerd
+
271532
Sun, 24 Sep 06 02:09 AM
"One has a story, what does one want to do with it and why? I feel that the quote expresses possession and neccesity."
You can have a story and not want to share it. After all, everyone has a story. "Everyone has a story to tell" can mean that everyone has a story that can be told, whether or not he or she wants to or will ever tell it.
"Everyone has to tell a story" says that everyone needs to or should tell a story.
If you're a student sitting in a classroom and your teacher says, "Everyone has to tell a story", that means you're being instructed to tell a story. But if your teacher says, "Everyone has a story to tell", he or she is probably just lecturing the class about how everyone's lives can be interesting enough to be shared and written about.
Joined on
Fri, Sep 8 2006
USA
Junior Member
58
LearningNerd
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
milky
+
271551
Sun, 24 Sep 06 02:57 AM
<You can have a story and not want to share it. After all, everyone has a story. "Everyone has a story to tell" can mean that everyone has a story that can be told, whether or not he or she wants to or will ever tell it. >
Well I must say I've never seen it that way. Yes, each has a story, but if each announces that he/she has as story to tell, he/she is normally looking for an audience.
How odd to say "I have a story to tell, but I'm not going to tell it." Never heard anyone say that.
everyone has a story to tell = there's a story, a life's history, inside everyone (no necessity implied)
I have a story to tell = I am looking for an audience (necessity implied)
"I have a story which I can tell if you want me to, miss." (possessive)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
milky
+
271555
Sun, 24 Sep 06 03:06 AM
Please, don't tell me this is about possession: He has a child to feed, so he can't come until five.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LearningNerd
+
271556
Sun, 24 Sep 06 03:12 AM
Now we're getting somewhere. I agree with you there. I was just referring to the quote when I said you can have a story and not want to share it. I've never heard anyone say "I have a story to tell, but I'm not going to tell it", either.
So, as for the quote: the way I read it, the quote points to the "everyone has a story to tell" idea, not "I have a story to tell / I am looking for an audience." In other words, writers write because they have a story to tell (as you said, "there's a story, a life's history, inside everyone"). They don't write because they must write a story (as you said, "I am looking for an audience").
You brought up an interesting point, though: the meaning often depends on the subject. "I have a story to tell" has different meanings than "everyone has a story to tell" and "you have a story to tell".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
milky
+
271557
Sun, 24 Sep 06 03:16 AM
<You brought up an interesting point, though: the meaning often depends on the subject. "I have a story to tell" has different meanings than "everyone has a story to tell" and "you have a story to tell".>
Good. Let's get back to it tomorrow. It's 3:15am here. Goodnight all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
milky
+
271597
Sun, 24 Sep 06 08:48 AM
I have a plane to catch.
Is it possible that the nominal object could be seen as the object of the infinitive and not of "have"?
|
|
|
|
|
|