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Post by savio on Jan 15, 2017 20:52:52 GMT -2
Hello,
I have read a text where I found the sentence:
On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street. (From: The Gift of the Magi. by O. Henry)
What is the intention of "on went" in the sentences? I tried to look up some meaning and the explanation but I could not find. Can somebody help me?
Thank you!!
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Post by JP on Jan 15, 2017 21:59:08 GMT -2
It's a hard one, isn't it? By the context though it seems to me that this "on went" has sense of "puting something on", in my mindy this sentence goes like "on was put her old brown jaket; on was put her old brown hat".
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Post by Magali on Jan 15, 2017 22:16:07 GMT -2
Hi Sávio!!!
That's really not an usual English writing, but since that's a classic short tale, in order to give it a lyric effect, the author sometimes plays with the words. There's a kind of inversion on this sentence and the verb was placed as the subject. Like The Beatles' song "Here comes the sun". If you rewrite it at a common way, you'd say "the sun comes here", but it just doesn't sound poetically as the original sentence.
Back to the tale, I guess the author wanted to say the she had gone on her old brown jacket and old brown hat.
Hope I have helped you!
😊
BTW, this is one of my favorite short tales!!!
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Post by gavin on Jan 16, 2017 14:28:39 GMT -2
Paulo and Magali are exactly correct! Fantastic explanations. By the way, that short story is taught to most kids in middle school (12-14 years old). There's even a candy named after the author called "Oh Henry!"
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Post by savio on Jan 16, 2017 20:17:53 GMT -2
Thank you for those explanations!!!
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Post by savio on Jan 16, 2017 20:43:11 GMT -2
It's a hard one, isn't it? By the context though it seems to me that this "on went" has sense of "puting something on", in my mindy this sentence goes like "on was put her old brown jaket; on was put her old brown hat". Yes Paulo, it is a quite hard one. I´ve been studying and that text is rated as a proficiency level (C2). |
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