lottielou22
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GrammarOkay, shouldn't "I Dreamed A Dream" be "I Dreamt A Dream"? "Dreamed" does flow a lot better, but I was just wondering if it was grammatically correct.
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Orestes Fasting
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In certain dialects of English it is. American, for example.
Speaking of Fantine and grammar, though, my inner grammar-bitch always flinches at "If there's a God above, He'd let me die instead." You just don't follow an indicative with a subjunctive like that!
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curlyhairedsoprano91
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I know! How hard would it be to say, "If there's a God above, he'll let me die instead"? Or "Were there a God above, he'd let me die instead." Anything but "there's/he'd"!
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bare24601!
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There's also: "I never did no wrong"
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Vanessa20
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| bare24601! wrote: | | There's also: "I never did no wrong" |
That one line has always felt wierd to me, and I'm more forgiving than most of the people on this board. Why is the woman who earlier sang lines like "But there are dreams that cannot be/And there are storms we cannot weather" suddenly singing lines like "I never did no wrong"?
Unless it's supposed to reflect her social downfall; that her way of speaking is degraded along with the rest of her life.
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curlyhairedsoprano91
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The whole "social downfall reflected through grammar" thing would totally make sense... if she spoke like that in any other instance. The preceding lines are actually quite eloquent ... "M'sieur, don't mock me now I pray / It's hard enough I've lost my pride / You let your foreman send me away / Yes, you were there and turned aside." And then ... "I never did no wrong."
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Ulla Dance Again!
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If those preceding lines were to be rewritten, reflecting the "I never did no wrong"/social downfall that would probably make more sense.
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Disney-Bway27
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The line that always leaves me wondering is in "Castle on a Cloud": There is a room that's filled with toys/there are a hundred boys and girls."
Would it have been THAT difficult to switch boys and girls around?
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MariekeLovesEnjolras
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I thought she sang "There is a room that's full of toys" ? I could be wrong though..
And yes, it struck me that they say boys and girls instead of girls and boys.. It keeps me wondering why I did that, because I think there must be a reason to do it this way..
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bigR
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It actually was changed on purpose. And I like it.
One of the flaws of the french version is that some of the rhymes are too obvious and they sound silly.
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jackrussell
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Re: Grammar | lottielou22 wrote: | | Okay, shouldn't "I Dreamed A Dream" be "I Dreamt A Dream"? "Dreamed" does flow a lot better, but I was just wondering if it was grammatically correct. |
Yes, "dreamed" is perfectly correct as a past tense of "dream". "Dreamt" would be fine too, either is correct.
I know it's not a grammatical one, but rhyming "Little dear, cost us dear" with "Medicines are expensive, Monsieur" makes me cringe every time I hear it.
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Mistress
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It's not really grammar, but one thing that's always bugged me was A Little Fall of Rain...shouldn't it be A Little DROP of Rain?
I'd appreciate it if someone cpould explain that to me.
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music is my life!!!
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| bare24601! wrote: | | There's also: "I never did no wrong" |
that line always frustrates me, but i think it goes to show how distressed she is at that point, and how confused she must be ...
in which case, i think it's fine 
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Oli-Ol
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| music is my life!!! wrote: | | bare24601! wrote: | | There's also: "I never did no wrong" |
that line always frustrates me, but i think it goes to show how distressed she is at that point, and how confused she must be ...
in which case, i think it's fine |
In the book it also says that she talks about 'being good' because she's so ill that she's reverted to her childhood... kind of.
I don't know whether this makes sense and I agree that that line bugs me but I've always thought of it as a reference to that part of the book.
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jackrussell
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| Mistress wrote: | It's not really grammar, but one thing that's always bugged me was A Little Fall of Rain...shouldn't it be A Little DROP of Rain?
I'd appreciate it if someone cpould explain that to me. |
Interesting... but we do talk about "rainfall" so I don't see why you shouldn't have a "Little Fall of Rain". It presumably means more rain than a "Little Drop of Rain", which would just be one small raindrop. A little fall of rain I take to mean a light shower.
The Eponine haters would have a field day if she were moaning about a "little drop of rain"! 
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Disney-Bway27
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| jackrussell wrote: |
The Eponine haters would have a field day if she were moaning about a "little drop of rain"! |
OH MY GOD I JUST FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR LAUGHING!! 
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Melpomene
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At least we know that Valjean knows the difference between "bring" and "take"
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Artemis Entreri
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I'm not an English expert (being Arabic), but J's: "Of a world that cannot hold" seems weird to me. Shouldn't it be: "a world that cannot (be) hold" or "a world I cannot hold"? (the other thing I don't get is "I am reaching, but I fall..." Reaching for what? Or does it mean something other here?
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jackrussell
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| Artemis Entreri wrote: | | I'm not an English expert (being Arabic), but J's: "Of a world that cannot hold" seems weird to me. Shouldn't it be: "a world that cannot (be) hold" or "a world I cannot hold"? (the other thing I don't get is "I am reaching, but I fall..." Reaching for what? Or does it mean something other here? |
I think it's just weak writing, to be honest. You're supposed to understand it as follows:
And the stars are black and cold
As I stare into the void
Of a world that cannot hold [me]
but the lyricist has run out of syllables and needs something that rhymes. Not Kretzmer's best work, but in a project as ambitious as Les Mis, such lapses are forgivable.
"I am reaching, but I fall", as well as reinforcing the link with the prologue (where Valjean sings the exact same line), is clearly meant to be symbolic. Javert is reaching to bridge the gap that has appeared between his lifelong beliefs and reality, but cannot, and so falls into that gap.
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Orestes Fasting
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That line reads more like "A world that cannot hold [together]."
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jdeng
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According to the "official" explanation, switching the "boys and girls" was indeed done on purpose, to make the line sound more like the words of the young child, who doesn't not know rhyming.
But why were her other lines written/sung in rhyme?
It is a common trick to use double-negative phrasing, such as �never do no wrong�, to portrait an ill-educated character. I understand that Fantine has never attended a school.
To me, it is much weirder to hear her singing �there are storm that we cannot weather�. Maybe she learned (or in Am English: learnt) a few well-constructed sentences from the four upper class students she once stayed with.
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