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Re: Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great ...

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Le 06/06/2026 à 21:37, James Dow Allen a écrit :
> 
> "HenHanna" <HenHanna@Posting.from.CsiPh> posted:
> 
>>>>>   Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great in
>>>>>   detective writing alone that his successors to that
>>>>>   realm must needs in self-defence make light of an obligation
>>>>>   they cannot wholly deny.
>>
>> I thought this contained   a  typo  or   typoes  !!!
>>
>> I had to have my teacher (AI)  parse and explain it   to me!
> 
> Parsing complex sentences was once one of my hobbies; this
> sentence is a real dilly!
> 
> First dispose of "needs."  The suffix "-s" looks weird, but is NEITHER
> a plural marker nor a verb inflection.  It is an ancient marker that
> converts a noun to an adverb; it also occurs in "always."
> (Sometimes the "-s" becomes "-ce" as in "once" or "thence.")
> 
> I'm not sure how best to treat "make light of."  Is it short for
> "make light work of"?
> 
> The sentence in question has three clauses:
> (1) (influence | has been | great (in | writing))
> (2) (successors (to | realm) | (must (make light (of | obligation))))
> (3) (they | (cannot deny))
> 
> There are TWO "that"s connecting clauses (1) and (2): One connects
> the clauses' major predicates; the other connects "realm" back to "writing."
> An implicit "that" connects obligation to the 3rd clause.
> 
> I think "to that realm" may be incorrect; I prefer "in that realm."
> 
> Objections?


None. Rich has dealt with "make light of".

The sentence is overblown, and can be simplified without altering its 
structure:

<Blue pencil>
Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great in detective writing 
alone that his successors must in self-defence make light of an 
obligation they cannot deny.
</Blue pencil>

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Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great ... "HenHanna" <HenHanna@Posting.from.CsiPh> - 2026-06-06 14:23 +0000
  Re: Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great ... James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-06-06 20:37 +0000
    Re: Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great ... Rich Ulrich <rich.ulrich@comcast.net> - 2026-06-06 23:02 -0400
      Re: Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great ... James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-06-07 09:18 +0000
        Re: Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great ... Rich Ulrich <rich.ulrich@comcast.net> - 2026-06-07 05:37 -0400
    Re: Sir A. Conan Doyle's influence has been so great ... Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-07 06:29 +0100

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