The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day for the three m

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Trinh
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The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day for the three m

Post by Trinh »

Hi,

Can someone please help me to understand the meaning of this sentence?
"The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day for the three months it took to reach a verdict."

This sentence seems to miss some commas some where that's why it confused me a lot to understand the whole sentence.
Am correct if I understand the sentence is: "The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day; It took 3 months to reach a verdict."

* Source: http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.c ... aw_1-2.htm
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Joe
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Re: The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day for the three m

Post by Joe »

Trinh wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2020 3:26 pm Hi,

Can someone please help me to understand the meaning of this sentence?
"The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day for the three months it took to reach a verdict."

This sentence seems to miss some commas some where that's why it confused me a lot to understand the whole sentence.
Am correct if I understand the sentence is: "The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day; It took 3 months to reach a verdict."

* Source: http://www.englishvocabularyexercises.c ... aw_1-2.htm
It's not really a question of commas. The sentence is too long and badly constructed (perhaps deliberately). At first glance it gives the impression that the man killed the boy every day.

Your modified sentence is a little better but still suggests that the man killed the boy more than once. It could be clarified by changing it to:

The parents of the murdered boy daily attended the trial of the man accused of killing him; it took 3 months to reach a verdict.

However, even that is not very elegant and it needs a bit of time to be completely rewritten. :mrgreen:
"We are not wholly bad or good, who live our lives under Milk Wood :-| " — Dylan Thomas, Under Milk Wood

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Trinh
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Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Aug 20, 2020 3:19 pm
Status: Learner of English

Re: The parents of the murdered boy attended the trial of the man accused of killing him every day for the three m

Post by Trinh »

Yeah, I think so. Thanks for your response!
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