(no subject)

広い通りに出る前の角のところで、ダーズリー氏は、初めて何かおかしいぞと思った。　



At the corner, pulling out onto the main road, Mr. Dursley thought for the first time that something was odd. Yikes. Okay. Well, we have here a few things that I do not know for sure are correct. The introductory phrase 広い通りに出る前の角のところで is subordinate and relates to place, so is adverbial. I'm not totally convinced that I've parsed this correctly... Am I supposed to do 出る前 or just 出る? And I fear I've lost some of the sense of place from 角のところ. If we accept that I didn't mung that section of the sentence too badly, I feel okay about how I parsed 初めて何かおかしいぞと思った even though I sort of cheated on the diagram by simplifying 何かおかしいぞと思った as "He thought XY" rather than diagramming the whole damn thing as it should have been... "He thought That X was Y". Basically, I should have uncovered the hidden subjunctive clause in 何かおかしいぞ and expanded it but I didn't. These are worth what you pay for them, you know. I can live with it.

Sentences in English 2

On the contrary, Mrs. Dursley acted like she didn't even have a sister. Anyhow, the Dursley family tradition was that they were complete opposites of her younger sister and that good-for-nothing husband of hers. If the Potter family suddenly appeared in the neighborhood, the residents might say "How fascinating!" but their hair would stand on end. The Potters also had a small son and, though the Dursleys were aware of this, they had never met him, not even once. One reason for staying far away from the Potters was that they couldn't see how that boy could possibly be suitable company for Dudley.

Anyway, it was a particular Tuesday morning. When the Dursleys awoke, the sky outside was the color of ashes. This is where the story begins. If some kind of mysterious event was shortly going to take place inside of England, the weather became even more cloudy in support of the idea. Mr. Dursley, humming a tune and thinking about his workday, selected an unremarkably-patterned necktie. Sitting baby Dudley, whose loud screaming had quieted, in the highchair, his wife gleefully started in on the neighborhood gossip. Neither of the two noticed the sky outside, where a large owl flapped noisily away. Around eight o'clock, Mr. Dursley, holding his briefcase, kissed his wife on the cheek and then failed at giving baby Dudley a bye-bye kiss. Because his temper was up, the little boy was in the middle of throwing his bowl of cornflakes at the wall. "Cheeky fellow," said Mr. Dursley with a satisfied chuckle as he left his house, got in his car, and backed out of the driveway at Number 4. At the corner, pulling out onto the main road, Mr. Dursley thought for the first time that something was odd.

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Tomorrow, we start page 3 of the text. Truly, the pea patch it is being burned up.