an awkward sentence in Ada

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 10:02 PM

Subject: an awkward sentence in Ada

Dear Don and Mr Troy,

Yes, thank you. I do now see how this sentence works, but it certainly could be clearer. There's an ambiguity in there somewhere that threw me off* -- funny, like those trompe l'oeil effects, once you see it, you can't see how you didn't see it. But for clarity's sake I think I would "translate" the sentence to:

"Her intimacy with her cher, trop cher René, as she sometimes called Van in gentle jest, changed the reading situation entirely ‹ whatever decrees might still remain pinned up in mid-air."

It is actually very nice image, which, although I can't find it, perhaps echoes another message pinned up on a wall somewhere else in the novel?

Thanks again,

Carolyn

* I was reading "whatever decrees still remained" as "whatever decrees that were still remaining," instead of as "whatever decrees might still remain." Oof.