Hi Cheri,
My vote is to keep it simple and go with “that you” (i.e., “…the acres of land
that you tamed, once you…”).
Try substituting “the house that you built” or “the car that you drove.”
And I wouldn’t get too worked up about it, as I’m sure those reading the
graphic novel won’t be checking for grammar!
Cheers,
Trish
From: mea-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mea-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ;
elcprof
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 6:52 PM
To: mea@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [mea] Re: Help un-waffle me, please: you've or you'd?
You've. Present perfect.
Omit unnecessary words and lengthen contractions to hear your basic sentence
more plainly.
"And your slave drivers will not be returning ... [first item on list] ... nor
the acres of land you have tamed [once you get out of here].
Present perfect: the action of taking begun in the past has been finished by
the present point at which the conversation is random.
In fact, depending on the greater context, the writer may have actually meant
an action yet to be completed in the future, sometime before the said "getting
out of here."
As in:
"And your slave drivers will not be returning ... [first item on list] ... nor
the acres of land you will have tamed [once you get out of here].
With contractions, then, that would read:
"And your new slave drivers won’t be returning the money they stole from your
pockets when they arrested you, nor the acres of land you’ll have tamed once
you get out of here…"
But the sense now depends on there being no comma before "once," the time
phrase describing the previous action. In fact, the proper time phrase should
read "by the time" instead of once.
"And your new slave drivers won’t be returning the money they stole from your
pockets when they arrested you, nor the acres of land you’ll have tamed by the
time you get out of here…"
So, what did the writer mean?
Have fun!
Debra Maione
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 25, 2017, at 4:03 PM, C. Frazer <clfrazer@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:clfrazer@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
Halp. The sentence below is from a panel in a graphic novel. The next panel
says "IF you ever get out of here!"
"And your new slave drivers won’t be returning the money they stole from your
pockets when they arrested you, nor the acres of land you’ve tamed, once you
get out of here…"
"...nor the acres of land YOU'VE tamed"
"...nor the acres of land YOU'D tamed"
?
I'm leaning toward "you've" but I keep waffling.
I tried it with "you tamed" but it doesn't sound right.
Thx,
Cheri
