Use is / has
Forum > English only || BottomMessage from rainbowstar posted on 22-08-2014 at 06:33:21 (D | E | F)
Hello,
When watching a serie dubbed and subtitled in English, I happened to see and hear this:
"Your lands are lost and invaded by Jarl Bord. Your family is fled, only the gods know where."
My problem is the use of "is", shouldn't it be "Your family has fled" ?
Thank you in advance for any reply
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Edited by lucile83 on 22-08-2014 06:51
Re: Use is / has from lucile83, posted on 22-08-2014 at 07:07:43 (D | E)
Hello
...Your family is fled ...this sentence may be considered a passive form, fled being used as an adjective.
Link
as well as the verb 'go' more commonly used in the form 'is gone':
Link
The meaning is slightly different. Using 'is fled, is gone' suggests there is no way back possible.
Hope this helps.
Re: Use is / has from notrepere, posted on 22-08-2014 at 17:07:17 (D | E)
Hello
The verb "fled" is not usually used in that way in English. Here is how I would correct the sentence in normal English usage:
"Your lands are/have been lost and were/have been invaded by Jarl Bord. Your family has fled, only the gods know where."
"You have lost your land which was invaded by Jarl Bord. Your family has fled. Only the gods know where they've gone.
Just because something is subtitled doesn't mean they are good subtitles. This sounds like it may be some sort of Scandinavian film. Who else would be called "Jarl Bord".
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Edited by notrepere on 22-08-2014 17:07
Re: Use is / has from rainbowstar, posted on 22-08-2014 at 21:21:25 (D | E)
Lucile, so gone and fled are adjectives here (I have never wondered why it is told "He is gone" ), thank you for your links.
Notrepere, the thing is that the series is in English with English subtitles. Therefore, the subtitles are exactly what the actors say. You are right, it deals with Scandinavian vikings, the name of the series is Viking.
So, I guess your correction is what would be correct in the written language ? And the text I quoted is from the spoken language.
Thanks to you both for your help !
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Edited by lucile83 on 22-08-2014 21:31
Re: Use is / has from walter9, posted on 23-08-2014 at 13:43:09 (D | E)
good questions, thanks very much!
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Edited by lucile83 on 23-08-2014 21:27
Forum > English only