DCML digest, Vol 1 #663 - 14 msgs

Halsten Aastebol Halsten.Aastebol at elkraft.ntnu.no
Thu Sep 13 09:07:40 CEST 2001


At 16:36 12.09.01 +0200, Olaf Solstrand wrote:
>>From: "Eero-Pekka Halinen" <e_halinen at hotmail.com>
>>
>> > > Tralla La turns out to be Xanadu.
>> >
>> >It's been some time since I last read this story, but wasn't it the
>> >other way round?
>>
>>Yes it was.
>
>Can someone with a good mark in English please tell me the difference on 
>the two sentences "Tralla La turns out to be Xanadu" and "Xanadu turns out 
>to be Tralla La"?
>
>After all, the main subject of the sentence is "Tralla La and Xanadu turns 
>out to be the same place". So the two sentences does actually MEAN the 
>same thing. Am I wrong? If not, why are we arguing about such a silly 
>thing? (well, we have argued about sillier things before anyway...)

But there is a grammatical and more important logical difference between 
the two, as explained by Kriton below. Those differences are exactly the 
same in Norwegian.
The subject and direct object of the sentences are shifted, thus changing 
the logical content. But yes, this is nitpicking of exactly the kind that 
we appreciate here on the DCML!:-)

Halsten


Kriton:
>They had been to Tralla La in Barks' story, and in Don's story they were
>following a trail to Xanadu. When they reached Xanadu, they realized
>that it was actually Tralla La. Thus, my claim that Xanadu turned out
>to be Tralla La.






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