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I read this part, "throwing before it a trench for drains—a rough temporary road and bare strips of earth ", but am finding it difficult to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:
Dick lowered his magazine to his knee and looked out of the window. At first it was all houses and factories and small bare gardens—but gradually the gardens grew larger and greener, and sometimes the open country would shyly push itself forward, to be driven out again by another mass of houses. Sometimes there would come quite a wild field with countryfied bramble hedgerows, but generally a narrow strip of new, unfinished houses stuck into it like a dagger point, throwing before it a trench for drains—a rough temporary road and bare strips of earth where the turf had been rolled up for the dagger point to go still deeper.
- R. C. Sherriff, The Fortnight in September, Chapter 8
This is a novel published in 1931, which describes a fortnight in September in which an English family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mary, Dick, and Ernie go on a holiday. While traveling by the train to the holiday destination, Dick is looking out of the window.
Here, I am having difficulties in parsing this sentence.
I guess that there is, a wild field with hedgerows to begin with.
But, in this wild field, a narrow land composed of new houses penetrated thereinto, just like a dagger point being stuck into the ground.
And this narrow land has thrown (is provided with), before itself, a trench for drains...
But then I wonder what "a rough temporary road" and "bare strips of earth" are connected to. Would they be connected to "throwing", perhaps...? Or some other thing...?
Dick lowered his magazine to his knee and looked out of the window. At first it was all houses and factories and small bare gardens—but gradually the gardens grew larger and greener, and sometimes the open country would shyly push itself forward, to be driven out again by another mass of houses. Sometimes there would come quite a wild field with countryfied bramble hedgerows, but generally a narrow strip of new, unfinished houses stuck into it like a dagger point, throwing before it a trench for drains—a rough temporary road and bare strips of earth where the turf had been rolled up for the dagger point to go still deeper.
- R. C. Sherriff, The Fortnight in September, Chapter 8
This is a novel published in 1931, which describes a fortnight in September in which an English family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mary, Dick, and Ernie go on a holiday. While traveling by the train to the holiday destination, Dick is looking out of the window.
Here, I am having difficulties in parsing this sentence.
I guess that there is, a wild field with hedgerows to begin with.
But, in this wild field, a narrow land composed of new houses penetrated thereinto, just like a dagger point being stuck into the ground.
And this narrow land has thrown (is provided with), before itself, a trench for drains...
But then I wonder what "a rough temporary road" and "bare strips of earth" are connected to. Would they be connected to "throwing", perhaps...? Or some other thing...?