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'It seemed to me as I were speaking perfectly naturally...'
What's wrong with that sentence? Well, obviously, the word 'if' is missing - it should more correctly read: 'It seemed to me as if I were speaking perfectly naturally...' It's a line from the fifth chapter of David Whitaker's book, DOCTOR WHO in an Exciting Adventure with the DALEKS, first published in 1964. However, ever since the book was reprinted in the 1970s, right up to the present day, every new edition has rendered the line with the word missing. I don't know about you, but such carelessness annoys me. Anyway, should you ever decide to read (or re-read) this book, but don't possess an original 1964 hardback edition or 1965 paperback, when you get to this line, add in that little missing 'if', eh? Just for me. (And, of course, David Whitaker. He used it for a reason.)
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('It seemed to me as though I were speaking perfectly naturally...' would also have been equally acceptable.)
2 comments:
Never did notice that, but it has been such a long time, since I actually read the book! I wouldn't have thought anything about it when reading it as a child.
Still waiting for my Armada paperback ( the seller is ill with flu! )
I was reading my new hardback, and 'tripped' over the line - "Something not right about that," I thought. So checked my three reprint paperbacks from the '70s, the '90s, and the '00s - all the same. So checked my Armada paperback and there was the missing 'if'. Incidentally, the new edition of the hardback contains the original discrepancy in height of the Daleks - three feet high in one chapter, four and a half feet high in another. It was later amended to five feet in subsequent editions.
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