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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009a sentence
The details of what is going on—the vole story, as it were—is a fascinating one. My question is that what does "as it were" mean here? Thanks a lot for you help! > The details of what is going on—the vole story, as it were—is a > fascinating one. > My question is that what does "as it were" mean here? I wondered what you were talking about, and read the whole of the previous thread before I realised that this was the start of a new one. It would be a very good idea to give different titles to the threads you start, especially when they are close together. "As it were" literally means "as it might be", I suppose, but it doesn't usually mean a whole lot. It might as well be "in a manner of speaking" or "as you might say". Its purpose is usually to draw attention to something clever you have just said. In this case, more context would be needed to be sure, but I suspect that "the vole story" is a pun on "the whole story" and something else that you may know about. > > The details of what is going on—the vole story, as it were—is a > > fascinating one. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > that "the vole story" is a pun on "the whole story" and something else > that you may know about. How about this alternative for "as it were": "let's put it this way" ? Marius Hancu >>> The details of what is going on—the vole story, as it were—is a >>> fascinating one. >>> My question is that what does "as it were" mean here? [...] >> "As it were" literally means "as it might be", I suppose, but it >> doesn't usually mean a whole lot. It might as well be "in a >> manner of speaking" or "as you might say". Its purpose is usually >> to draw attention to something clever you have just said. >> In this case, more context would be needed to be sure, but I >> suspect that "the vole story" is a pun on "the whole story" and >> something else that you may know about. > How about this alternative for "as it were": > "let's put it this way" ? Sure, although you'd have to rearrange the sentence a little to fit it in. |
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