An odd sentence

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

Moderator: Alan

Post Reply
pdh0224
Rising Star
Rising Star
Posts: 472
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:02 am

An odd sentence

Post by pdh0224 »

Dear teacher,

That all changed on Oct. 11, 2001, when the Fort Belvoir site was proposed by the Center for Military History and approved by the secretary of the Army, Thomas E. White. "He said, 'We need to do this for all the soldiers going into harm's way,' and, boy, was that prophetic," said Mr. Bennett, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who studied music theory at the University of South Carolina and got his start in museum work by cataloging John Philip Sousa scores.

Q : Why was "comma" used twice in both sides of "boy"?

Where is the article or a plural sign "-s " of "boy"?

Why was "that" written before an adjective "prophetic"?



All the best,
User avatar
Alan
Teacher/Moderator
Teacher/Moderator
Posts: 15204
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 7:56 pm
Status: Teacher of English
Location: Japan

Post by Alan »

'Boy(!)' here is used an an emphatic exclamation.

'Was that prophetic' is a kind of informal rhetorical question, but without a question mark. It really means 'That was prophetic!'.
Post Reply