[Grammar] Quote

[xoleoni97]

Hi! I am wondering if this quotes is grammatically correct "If one day the speed kills me, do not cry, because I was smiling"
if it's correct, why "I was smiling" (with past continuous not with present)

thanks. xx

 

[Skrej]

Yes, it's correct, because you're now dead, but up until the time you died, you had a smile on your face.

You can view it as either a parallel action (smiling and speeding), or an interrupted action in the past (the smiling being interrupted by death).

 

[Rover_KE]

Hi! I am wondering if this quote is grammatically correct: "If one day the speed kills me, do not cry, because I was smiling".
If it's correct, why "I was smiling" (with past continuous — not with present)?

Please note my corrections to your post.

A better title would have been If one day the speed kills me...

Extract from the Posting Guidelines:

'Thread titles should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.'

 

[xoleoni97]

Oh so basically I can say it's like "I was smiling (during the speed) before I died"?

 

[emsr2d2]

[STRIKE]Oh[/STRIKE] So [STRIKE]basically[/STRIKE] can I [STRIKE]can[/STRIKE] say it's like "I was smiling [STRIKE](during the speed)[/STRIKE] (while I was speeding) before I died"?

See my amendment above.

You put a question mark at the end so you need to reverse "I can" and make it "can I" to formulate a question.

 

[Skrej]

Oh so basically I can say it's like "I was smiling (during the speed) before I died"?

With emsr's corrections from post #5 above, yes, but you died with the smile on your face.

 

[emsr2d2]

Never having had the privilege of watching someone die while smiling, I'd be interested to know whether that smile stays on their face in death.

 

[Raymott]

"If one day the speed kills me, do not cry, because I was smiling"

I assumed he was taking speed, not speeding, and that's why he was smiling.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=speed

 

[emsr2d2]

Ah, I immediately assumed he was addicted to driving too fast not to an illegal drug. So naive!

 

[tedmc]

That's another one called "ecstasy".
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ecstasy

 

[Eckaslike]

"If one day the speed kills me, do not cry, because I was smiling"

I assumed he was taking speed, not speeding, and that's why he was smiling.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=speed

Good thought, like the others I just naturally assumed fast driving. I totally missed that it could be referring to drugs.

The quote seemed vaguely familiar, so I Googled it, and it is widely attributed to Paul Walker, the star of the Fast and Furious street racing films who died in a car accident in 2013. It seems that no one can prove whether or not he actually said it. The writer here believes an enterprising car sticker manufacturer used it to boost sales from "Fast and Furious" fans.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/14/fast-and-furious-death-paul-walker

 

[Skrej]

'Speed' isn't a proper noun, it's just a general kind of drug. Plus, I think we've established that the original post was referring to speeding, not the drug.

 

[Rover_KE]

The name "Speed" should have been capitalized in the first place.

No, it shouldn't, Ted. This is another of your incorrect statements made as if it were an incontravertible fact. You'd be well-advised to add in my opinion to posts like this.