hardly get out the door

[rainbow402]

Lately, with New York awash in sex scandals, I’ve been thinking that this stuff is not as much fun as it used to be. After a while, you’d really rather get back to discussing highway construction.
Sure, the Eliot Spitzer thing had its moments. But Spitzer had hardly gotten out the door when his successor, David Paterson, was confessing adultery to the New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez. The swearing-in party was still going while Paterson was coming clean.

Note: The quote is excerpted from New York Time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/opinion/22collins.html?hp

Hi Teacher,

1. hardly get out the door= ? Hasn't Spitzer stepped down from his office already? I think Spitzer has gotten out of the door. Why did the author use " hardly"? The door was referred to his office, wasn't it?


2. Is "the swearing-in party" referred to the new successor -Paterson? What is the author referred to about " was still going"?



Thanks in advance.

[Niall]

1. Hardly in this case means only just. He had only just left.

2. The "swearing-in party" was the party for the appointment of Paterson. The phrase saying that the party "was still going" means that the party for his appointment was still happening. This is an exaduration, what is actaully meant is that Paterson was coming clean very very shortly after having been appointed.

[rainbow402]

Niall,

I hardly read your good answer. Thanks for your help. I got it.

[riverkid]

Lately, with New York awash in sex scandals, I’ve been thinking that this stuff is not as much fun as it used to be. After a while, you’d really rather get back to discussing highway construction.
Sure, the Eliot Spitzer thing had its moments. But Spitzer had hardly gotten out the door when his successor, David Paterson, was confessing adultery to the New York Daily News columnist Juan Gonzalez. The swearing-in party was still going while Paterson was coming clean.

++++++++++++++++++

Originally Posted by rainbow402

Note: The quote is excerpted from New York Time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/opinion/22collins.html?hp

Hi Teacher,

1. hardly get out the door= ? Hasn't Spitzer stepped down from his office already? I think Spitzer has gotten out of the door. Why did the author use " hardly"? The door was in reference to [referred] to his office, wasn't it?

Note that writer used 'had gotten', Rainbow. That places the action back in time.

The use of 'hardly' is an exaggeration for emphasis. It suggests that these two "scandals" had no time interval between them at all.

But Spitzer had hardly left office ...

2. Is "the swearing-in party" referred to the new successor -Paterson? What is the author refering to about " was still going"?

Again, it's an exaggeration. After the official swearing in ceremony there would often be a party or celebration of "victory". Even as this celebration was going on, the same thing that caused Spitzer's downfall were being revealed about the new govenor.


Thanks in advance.

#

[rainbow402]

Riverkid,

Thank you very much for answering my questions and correcting my writing as well.

I used to write " is referred to" but no one ever tried to correct me before you. I am very happy for this. Merci!

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by rainbow402

Riverkid,

Thank you very much for answering my questions and correcting my writing as well.

I used to write " is referred to" but no one ever tried to correct me before you. I am very happy for this. Merci!

Actually, Rainbow, I rushed over this a bit too fast and I don't think that I gave you great, or even good advice. My example sounds a little stilted.

??The door was in reference to [referred] to his office, wasn't it?

The door [was] referred to his office, [wasn't] didn't it?

I should have deleted 'was' as what you're doing here is making it a passive construction by using the be verb form 'was'. By doing this, it carries a meaning of,

"Someone referred the door to his office", which is obviously not what you intended.

The door was used as reference to his office, wasn't it?

[rainbow402]

Originally Posted by riverkid

Actually, Rainbow, I rushed over this a bit too fast and I don't think that I gave you great, or even good advice. My example sounds a little stilted.


The door [was] referred to his office, [wasn't] didn't it?

Riverkid,

Thank you for your further illustration. I think you mean " refer" can be used as passive voice, right?

But I can't understand above. Do you mean I should writing as below:

#1 The door referred to his office, didn't it? ( Right)
#2 The door was referred to his office, wasn't it ? ( Wrong)

But according to #1, how can a door " refer" to itself?