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Discussion Groups / English Usage / February 2010Frost: cut [off] at both ends
Hello: 1. "Cut off at both ends" has about the same frequency at Google Books as "Cut off at both ends" Any differences? ---- A Servant to Servants ... You take the lake. I look and look at it. I see it's a fair, pretty sheet of water. I stand and make myself repeat out loud The advantages it has, so long and narrow, Like a deep piece of some old running river Cut short off at both ends. ... Robert Frost, p. 62 http://www.readprint.com/work-3283/A-Servant-to-Servants-Robert-Frost --- 2. In the same poem (thus same link, please) " Len says one steady pull more ought to do it." Does it mean: " Len says _one more/another_ steady pull ought to do it." or: " Len says one steady pull ought to do it _more/better_." or both? 3. Which are the slight differences between "you will" and "you do" in: --- It got so I would say--you know, half fooling-- "It's time I took my turn upstairs in jail"-- Just as you will till it becomes a habit. --- --- Thanks. Marius Hancu > Hello: > > 1. "Cut off at both ends" > has about the same frequency at Google Books as > "Cut off at both ends" Well, I should hope so. > Any differences? That's the problem. Did you mean to ask about the difference between cut and cut off? Consider "I cut my hand" and "I cut off my hand."  SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux > Did you mean to ask about the difference between cut and cut off? > Consider "I cut my hand" and "I cut off my hand." Those are clear. No, as a matter of fact I wanted to ask about differences between: "Cut short off at both ends" and "Cut short at both ends" Thank you. Marius Hancu > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > ... "Cut short off at both ends" and "Cut short at both ends" There's not much difference. The second is probably the more idiomatic. The first emphasizes that there's a cut-off bit - two, actually, one at both ends. You can 'cut short' without having bits left over, either because you didn't have enough to begin with, or because you are stopping something sooner than it would have stopped on its own - you cut short someone else's talk by interrupting, for example. Perhaps Frost wants to emphasize the connection between the lake and the larger, longer 'old running river' it was cut off from at both ends (rivers usually run into and out of lakes). But I'm not sure. > Robert Frost, p. 62 > http://www.readprint.com/work-3283/A-Servant-to-Servants-Robert-Frost [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > " Len says one steady pull ought to do it _more/better_." > or both? The first. One more pull will finish the job. > 3. Which are the slight differences between "you will" and "you do" > in: > --- > It got so I would say--you know, half fooling-- > "It's time I took my turn upstairs in jail"-- > Just as you will till it becomes a habit. There's no 'do' there. 'Will' is future - I take my turn now, you will in the future. SignatureCheryl > > 1. "Cut off at both ends" > > has about the same frequency at Google Books as [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > stopping something sooner than it would have stopped on its own - you > cut short someone else's talk by interrupting, for example. Interesting. > Perhaps Frost wants to emphasize the connection between the lake and the > larger, longer 'old running river' it was cut off from at both ends [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > The first. One more pull will finish the job. OK, I thought so. > > 3. Which are the slight differences between "you will" and "you do" > > in: [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > There's no 'do' there. 'Will' is future - I take my turn now, you will > in the future. Yes, but sometime the present is used to express the future: "Just as you will till it becomes a habit." Thanks. Marius Hancu [...] >>> 3. Which are the slight differences between "you will" and "you >>> do" in: [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > "Just as you will till it becomes a habit." I believe this is the stressed "will" of habitual action. My upstairs neighbour *will* keep practising his dance-steps after midnight. It's related to "will" of decision or intention, I think. "Just as one has a tendency to (repeat a half-meant phrase)". |
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