two sentences

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Vivianlin

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Dear all,

I read the following sentence in a short story, but I can't figure out the meaning. Could you please help me out?

... I discoursed on the condition of the drama in the Balkans.

In addition, I understand the meaning of the following sentence, but I have no idea why there is "it" in the sentence.

"Few men, I may add, learn this until they are too old to make it of any consequence to a woman what they say."
 

TheParser

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Dear all,

I read the following sentence in a short story, but I can't figure out the meaning. Could you please help me out?

... I discoursed on the condition of the drama in the Balkans.

In addition, I understand the meaning of the following sentence, but I have no idea why there is "it" in the sentence.

"Few men, I may add, learn this until they are too old to make it of any consequence to a woman what they say."




***** ONLY THE OPINIONS OF A NON-TEACHER *****

Ms. Lin,

I believe that "to discourse" is a fancy word to speak or write

about something. In regular, everyday English, I think that

ordinary people like me would say something like:

I spoke about the dramatic events occurring in the Balkans.

*****

For easier analysis, let's simplify your sentence to:

Few men learn this until they are too old to make it of any

consequence to a woman what they say.


I think that "it" refers to "this." I think that it is being

used because the writer does not want to use "this"

two times.

Of course, I do not know what "this" refers to. Let's say

that "this" refers to the idea that a man should always

tell a woman that she is young, beautiful, and slim.

In that case, the sentence might mean something like:

Few men learn to tell a woman how young, beautiful, and slim she is

until most men are too old to impress any woman with those words.

Let's say that Mr. X has never said those words. But he finally

learns to say those words at the age of 95. Well, probably the women

with whom he is speaking will not care what he says anymore. (If he

had said those words when he was 35, then the women would have

been flattered that a handsome 35-year-old man was saying those

words to them.)


***** ONLY THE OPINIONS OF A NON-TEACHER *****
 

Vivianlin

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Hi,
Thank you for your reply. However, for the first question, I still don't know the meaning of "the condition of the drama in the Balkans." Is "Balkans" an area, a play or a film?

Vivian
 

Raymott

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Hi,
Thank you for your reply. However, for the first question, I still don't know the meaning of "the condition of the drama in the Balkans." Is "Balkans" an area, a play or a film?

Vivian
[This reply is not just to Vivian]
Have you considering opening any web browser search engine and typing 'Balkans' in the search box? Your question should be immediately answered - I mean unambiguously and in less than a second.

A web search is such a tremendous resource these days that I cannot understand why so many people have not heard of it, or are resistant to doing it. Anyway, you might add it to your list of knowledge-gaining strategies. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

PS: I understand that some places restrict access to some parts of the web.
 
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