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Heaven #3893 Dreams keep you going
Posted July 11th, 2011 by Normand Bo...
Dear Gloria,
in http://www.heavenletters.org/dreams-keep-you-going.html
paragr. 8
"And, as Edison, plied his dream, he enjoyed his working on it. Make sure that you do. If you do not enjoy working on your dream, maybe it isn’t really your dream. And that’s all right too"
I don't understand the grammatical structure of this first sentence, especially "plied his dream". Can we "ply a dream"? Should I read: "And, as an inventor, Edison must have worked very hard but he enjoyed his working on it" ?
Thanks
Ouh! Ouh! Gloria, are you
Ouh! Ouh! Gloria, are you there?
What I think...
Dearest Normand,
In this sentence what I think this relates to is that even though Edison worked very hard at his dream he still enjoyed
the process and if you (the whole world) can't do the same, maybe you need to reexamine what you're doing. I hope this
helps somewhat for you can "ply a dream".
transitive verb plied, plying ply′·ing
1. to do work with; wield or use (a tool, faculty, etc.), esp. with energy
2. to work at (a trade)
3. to address (someone) urgently and constantly (with questions, etc.)
4. to keep supplying (with gifts, food, drink, etc.)
5. to sail regularly back and forth across: boats ply the channel
Blessings to you and your loved ones,
Nancy
Thanks Nancy, you confirm
Thanks Nancy, you confirm what I thought the meaning was. But can you explain to me the "english grammatical structure" of the first segment of this sentence:
"And, as Edison, plied his dream, he enjoyed…"? Is "plied" a past participle? I can hardly grammatically connect "as Edison..he enjoyed" with the interpolated clause "plied his dream".
Normand, the meaning of
Normand, the meaning of "ply" here seems to be this (from my digidict):
• work steadily at (one's business or trade); conduct : he plied a profitable export trade.
Thesaurus: engage in, carry on, pursue, conduct, practice.
(By the way, since we spoke about it some time ago, in my new Mac (10.6), the dictionary is integrated again. If you ctrl-click on "ply", what do you get?)
Oh, and I think the comma
Oh, and I think the comma after Edison needs to go.
Dear Jochen, the comma was
Dear Jochen, the comma was the only problem. Remove it and it becomes crystal clear. Can you imagine how a simple misplaced comma can make a difference. How could one grammatically justify such a sentence, without any extrapolation? Translators have to be "by the book"to start with, but then, they can fly freely.
I believe so...
Good Day Normand,
Yes, I believe this usage of the verb is as past participle. I think Gloria would tell you to adjust the sentence accordingly. Adjust to how it would make the most sense to YOUR readers. Not being a translator, I can only imagine what it is like for you. I, like Jochen, also think that the comma should be removed. I shall defer to Gloria's input on all of this. Love to you, Normand.
Blessings,
Nancy