The lady keeps/has kept the secret for five years.

[jutfrank]

At that instant it ceased to be a secret, regardless of what may or may not happen in the future.

When I was very young my father asked me "If you want something to be a secret, how many people can you tell?" I got it wrong by answering "one".

Surely, it's still a secret as long as everybody in the know means to keep it. Otherwise, how would blackmail be possible?

 

[kadioguy]

What exactly is your current question, kadioguy?

Could you please help me with post #9? My current question is this:

Do you think the (1) and (2) in post #9 both work? Do you agree with what my friend said in that post?

PS - for the original question, I now understand that The lady keeps the secret for five years on its own means something like she keeps the secret for five years, then reveals it, keeps it again for five years ... (as Tdol said in #6), and another way to use it is in a summary of a novel, play, film, etc., as Madness1 said in #7 and 5jj said in #8. I hope I have got it.

 

[jutfrank]

Do you think the (1) and (2) in post #9 both work?

I'm going to assume you're asking whether they could work in any context. The answer is yes. But it isn't a good question because you haven't made it very clear what context you're thinking of.

Do you agree with what my friend said in that post?

Not all of it, no. Look:

1.
Mary learns English for many years, but she never goes to English-speaking countries. Today she has a chance to do that - she gets a free ticket to Britain! So she starts to prepare everything she will need on the journey.

2.
Mary has been learning English for many years but she has never been to any English-speaking countries. Today she has a chance to do that - she gets a free ticket to Britain! So she starts to prepare everything she will need on the journey.

In (1), if the passage is meant, for example, as a summary of what happens in a narrative text, then the bold part works as part of the narrative itself. That means the learning and the not going to English-speaking countries are both story elements. In other words, they are part of the story and we read about her doing these things.

In (2), if the passage is meant, for example, as a summary of what happens in a narrative text, then the bold part works as background context to the narrative. That means that the learning and the not going to English-speaking countries are mentioned to give background to Mary's present situation (and the events of 'Today') in the story. The story probably doesn't recount her doing these things.

Is that clear?

 

[kadioguy]

2.
Mary has been learning English for many years but she has never been to any English-speaking countries. Today she has a chance to do that - she gets a free ticket to Britain! So she starts to prepare everything she will need on the journey.

[...]

In (2), if the passage is meant, for example, as a summary of what happens in a narrative text, then the bold part works as background context to the narrative. That means that the learning and the not going to English-speaking countries are mentioned to give background to Mary's present situation (and the events of 'Today') in the story. The story probably doesn't recount her doing these things.

So in (2), if the passage is meant, for example, as a summary of what happens in a narrative text, then the bold part works as background context to the narrative and is appropriate to be placed in brackets.

Is that right?

 

[jutfrank]

So in (2), if the passage is meant, for example, as a summary of what happens in a narrative text, then the bold part works as background context to the narrative and is appropriate to be placed in brackets.

Is that right?

Brackets? What do you mean? Why brackets?

 

[kadioguy]

Brackets? What do you mean? Why brackets?

Like this:

(Mary has been learning English for many years but she has never been to any English-speaking countries.)

Today she has a chance to do that - she gets a free ticket to Britain! So she starts to prepare everything she will need on the journey.
----
I should have said in #24 "... and we can read the bold part as if it is placed in brackets." I mean, it is like additional information about the narrative.

 

[jutfrank]

I still don't understand what you mean. Do you really mean to ask whether that part would be in brackets if it were meant as a summary of a story?

Before you continue asking questions about this, first think about who you imagine to be writing your text, who you imagine to be reading it, why it has been written, and where it appears. Once you've got that straight, then we can say more.

 

[kadioguy]

I still don't understand what you mean. Do you really mean to ask whether that part would be in brackets if it were meant as a summary of a story?

Hi jutfrank, what I wanted to say is like this:

[From a TOEIC test]

The part in brackets is additonal information to a post.

So I mean, the bold part in (2) works as background context to the narrative, and background context is as if things in brackets to give us additonal information. The bold part can be in brackets or italic or something like that, as background context or an a brief introduction, but it is still fine as it is in the original.

I think I didn't make it clear, and I hope I have made it this time.

 

[jutfrank]

I think you've understood what I meant, yes.