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pninja005
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 3:43 am
Post subject: Please explain this phrase |
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Hello,
I'm a university student and need to work on some english text.
I don't understand the meaning of the following phrase :
"He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in the more
fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the score."
Could anyone please explain this deeper ?
Thanks,
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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:04 am
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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At 21:43:16 on Sun, 13 Nov 2005, pninja005 <pninja005@hotmail.com> wrote
in <kFNdf.24438$Jl2.22394@biebel.telenet-ops.be>:
| Quote: | "He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in the more
fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the score."
|
It's always best to give more context than you have done, but I suspect
that "he" was an artist, who was more interested in some (unnamed)
subject for his painting than in the fashionable ladies who commissioned
their portraits from him. ("Sitting" would be "sitting for a
portrait".)
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) |
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John Briggs
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:45 am
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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Molly Mockford wrote:
| Quote: | At 21:43:16 on Sun, 13 Nov 2005, pninja005 <pninja005@hotmail.com
wrote in <kFNdf.24438$Jl2.22394@biebel.telenet-ops.be>:
"He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in
the more fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the
score."
It's always best to give more context than you have done, but I
suspect that "he" was an artist, who was more interested in some
(unnamed) subject for his painting than in the fashionable ladies who
commissioned their portraits from him. ("Sitting" would be "sitting
for a portrait".)
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You should have said that "a score" means "twenty", so "by the score" means
"in large numbers" 
--
John Briggs
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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:16 am
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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At 21:45:03 on Sun, 13 Nov 2005, John Briggs <john.briggs4@ntlworld.com>
wrote in <ztOdf.811$TL4.24@newsfe1-win.ntli.net>:
| Quote: | Molly Mockford wrote:
At 21:43:16 on Sun, 13 Nov 2005, pninja005 <pninja005@hotmail.com
wrote in <kFNdf.24438$Jl2.22394@biebel.telenet-ops.be>:
"He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in
the more fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the
score."
It's always best to give more context than you have done, but I
suspect that "he" was an artist, who was more interested in some
(unnamed) subject for his painting than in the fashionable ladies who
commissioned their portraits from him. ("Sitting" would be "sitting
for a portrait".)
You should have said that "a score" means "twenty", so "by the score" means
"in large numbers"
|
Ah, but no. This was a multi-talented "he", and as well as being an
artist he was a composer. The ladies were sitting beside his unfinished
musical manuscript
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) |
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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:02 pm
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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"pninja005" <pninja005@hotmail.com> wrote...
| Quote: | Hello,
I'm a university student and need to work on some english text.
I don't understand the meaning of the following phrase :
"He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in the
more fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the score."
Could anyone please explain this deeper ?
|
The most difficult part of this is "..., as he by no means always was
...."
"By no means" is an uncommon way of expressing the negative, so the
example phrase means "as he often wasn't". Therefore the sentence
indicates that his interest in his subject was perhaps higher than
usual.
Matti |
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Paul Burke
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:53 pm
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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pninja005 wrote:
| Quote: | "He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in the more
fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the score."
|
Why does anyone write in this unnecessarily tangled fashion? I had to
read the sentence several times to make sense of it, and I've been
learing English for over 50 years.
Paul Burke |
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John of Aix
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:13 am
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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pninja005 wrote:
| Quote: | Hello,
I'm a university student and need to work on some english text.
I don't understand the meaning of the following phrase :
"He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in
the more fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the
score."
|
"...to him..." is wrong. If he is a protrait painter then it should be
"for him" if not then "with/beside/by him" |
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Molly Mockford
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:37 am
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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At 22:13:25 on Wed, 16 Nov 2005, John of Aix <j.murphy@libertysurf.fr>
wrote in <437ba090$1$29204$8fcfb975@news.wanadoo.fr>:
| Quote: | pninja005 wrote:
Hello,
I'm a university student and need to work on some english text.
I don't understand the meaning of the following phrase :
"He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in
the more fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the
score."
"...to him..." is wrong. If he is a protrait painter then it should be
"for him" if not then "with/beside/by him"
|
Not so. The expression "to sit to" an artist used to be reasonably
common. Look at the top Google hits at http://tinyurl.com/7b7t3.
--
Molly Mockford
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) |
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John of Aix
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2005 5:03 am
Post subject: Re: Please explain this phrase |
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Molly Mockford wrote:
| Quote: | At 22:13:25 on Wed, 16 Nov 2005, John of Aix <j.murphy@libertysurf.fr
wrote in <437ba090$1$29204$8fcfb975@news.wanadoo.fr>:
pninja005 wrote:
Hello,
I'm a university student and need to work on some english text.
I don't understand the meaning of the following phrase :
"He was interested in his subject, as he by no means always was in
the more fashionable ladies who were soon sitting to him by the
score."
"...to him..." is wrong. If he is a protrait painter then it should
be "for him" if not then "with/beside/by him"
Not so. The expression "to sit to" an artist used to be reasonably
common. Look at the top Google hits at http://tinyurl.com/7b7t3.
|
Eh ben, I've never heard of it before. |
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