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16-Sep-2006, 07:55
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| |  They were come
"They were come to the town nearly at midnight."
I have found this construction several times and am not sure about it. What does it mean? (Well, I know what it means but what bothers me is that it just looks strange for me and I cannot find the rule it is based on.)
Best,
Nyggus  |
16-Sep-2006, 09:50
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| |  Re: They were come
Quote:
Originally Posted by nyggus  "They were come to the town nearly at midnight."
I have found this construction several times and am not sure about it. What does it mean? (Well, I know what it means but what bothers me is that it just looks strange for me and I cannot find the rule it is based on.)
Best,
Nyggus | I must agree, it does sound a little peculiar.
Instead of " were come" I would use "came"
If it was me writing it however, I would rewrite the sentence as:
"They arrived at the town close to midnight."
I hope I helped  |
16-Sep-2006, 10:38
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| | Re: They were come
Dwelling on the subject a little longer, you could possibly change "come" to "coming".
An example being:
"They were coming to town for the event but had to cancel when they missed their train." VS |
16-Sep-2006, 10:39
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| | Re: They were come
Hello Nyggus
In some verbs of motion and change (e.g. come, go, become), it was once customary to use "to be" as the auxiliary instead of "to have".
You still find it in modern texts, sometimes: it has an archaic air (slightly Biblical, perhaps).
All the best,
MrP
PS: Thus "they were come" means "they had come". |
16-Sep-2006, 10:47
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| | Re: They were come
Thanks for your sage advice, MrP  |
16-Sep-2006, 15:46
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| |  Re: They were come
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrPedantic Hello Nyggus
In some verbs of motion and change (e.g. come, go, become), it was once customary to use "to be" as the auxiliary instead of "to have".
You still find it in modern texts, sometimes: it has an archaic air (slightly Biblical, perhaps).
All the best,
MrP
PS: Thus "they were come" means "they had come". | Thanks, MrP. Actually, it was from Tolkien, and there you may find some archaic air.
Best,
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