[General] wake

[vil]

[FONT=&quot]Dear teachers,
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Would you tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence? [/FONT]

His glides ended not with the usual feet-down splash into the sea, but with a long flat wake as he touched the surface with his feet tightly streamlined against his body. (Jonathan Livingston Seagull)

wake = the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward (at the present case behind Jonathan’s smoothly sliding body with his tightly bended feet )

Thanks for your efforts.


Regards,


V.

 

[Verona_82]

I'm not a teacher, but I worked several years in shipbuilding, and I know, that a wake is the track that appears in the water behind a moving boat/ship/vessel, in your example, a seagull

 

[Leandro-Z]

I'm not a teacher, but I worked several years in shipbuilding, and I know, that a wake is the track that appears in the water behind a moving boat/ship/vessel, in your example, a seagull

Okay, you are right. However, you should also know that a comma can never be followed by "THAT". In that case the correct word would be "WHICH". It is not in order to bother you, I am just telling this for you to know...

 

[Verona_82]

...or WHO. Thanks Leandro-z for pointing that out, but we'd better not discuss defining and non-defining clauses in Vil's thread.

 

[fadysandy]

in the wake of

= In the noticeable disturbance of water behind (a maritime vessel).

 

[vil]

a long flat wake = a long scarcely perceptible track

 

[Rover_KE]

However, you should also know that a comma can never be followed by "THAT". In that case the correct word would be "WHICH". It is not in order to bother you, I am just telling this for you to know...

Off-topic or not, that statement needs to be challenged.

Who told you, Leandro, that a comma can never be followed by that? I've just done it twice - perfectly grammatically.

That's completely incorrect advice.

Furthermore, changing that after the (incorrect) comma to which is nonsense.

Rover

 

[Leandro-Z]

Okay, sorry if it turned into a misunderstanding. It was just for you to know (or to remind you)

 

[Leandro-Z]

And another thing: WHO can follow a comma in a non-defining clause. For example:

Robert, who really likes ice-cream, back out my proposal.

...but you can`t say:

The theory, that was firstly explained by Galileo Galilei, was related to the genetic relation between monkeys and human beings.

instead, you write:

The theory, which was firstly explained by Galileo Galilei, was related to the gentic relation between monkeys and human beings.

 

[Leandro-Z]

In that case, Rover, it is the same as in Spanish. The verb can never be followed by a comma. However, there are exceptions. For example, when you beging the sentence with a linker. In the cases you showed us, there is a linker or you are adding something. What I tried to explain is that, in the case of Verona, "that" can`t follow the comma beacause, otherwise, the sense is lost. It is wrong to separate the VERB from the THAT CLAUSE.