Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Do you understand this?

"This time, it seemed that the powers that be assumed we already knew
everything about Shrek, Donkey, Puss, and the rest of the bunch that we
really didn't need to see them. Hey, let's bring in one more characters
for the audience, but refuse to give them time to get to know them!
Poor, pathetic lack of character development."
It's a comment found on 
imdb.com
 about the movie "Shrek the Third"
I have two doubts:
1)I have no idea of what "that be assumed" means in that context.
2)Is it somehow acceptable to say "one more characters" ? I'd have said 
"some more
characters" or "one more character"
Thanks.

 characters" or "one more character"
I'd say "some more", since there's "to know them" at the end of the 
sentence"
Laz 

 Because that doesn't mean anything. The subject is "the powers that be".
Qua si vede subito chi ha visto Angel e chi no.
:-)
Ciao,
Enrico il Pentolaio.
-- 
"I've had enough trouble for a lifetime"

 Because that doesn't mean anything. The subject is "the powers that be".
Allora forse non ho capito cosa intende con "powers"...
Abbozzo una traduzione:
"Questa volta, pare che ********** che abbiamo ipotizzato di conoscere
tutto su  Shrek, ecc... che non c'era bisogno di vederli"
Come vedete, avendo capito l'equivalente di questa traduzione, non è che 
abbia capito granché :-)

 tutto su  Shrek, ecc... che non c'era bisogno di vederli"
pare che i powers that be abbiano dato per scontato che noi sappiamo
gia' tutto su Shrek ecc.


wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_powers_that_be

Adam Atkinson ha scritto:

Ah ecco, non avevo nessuna idea del significato di "The powers that be" 
ecco perché mi incartavo :-)

 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_powers_that_be
Grazie, ora č tutto chiaro, non pensavo fosse un espressione idiomatica 
e cercavo di interpretarla invece di cercarla sul dizionario.



I have more than two doubts. This was not written by a person who is facile 
with English.
"This time, it seemed" is odd. One would typically write "This time, it 
seems" or "That time, it seemed".
It should read "the bunch, so that we" to even make sense (not to say that 
it would then be well-written).
It should read "one more character" or "some more characters" with the 
pronoun that follows referring to the appropriate number.
A native speaker might use "neglect" rather than "refuse".
The last sentence doesn't have  a verb. You can get away with this sort of 
shorthand on the Web only if you're able to write your other sentences in a 
sensical fashion.

 pronoun that follows referring to the appropriate number.
With "the pronoun that follows" are you referring to the pronoun "them"?
"Hey, let's bring in one more characters
for the audience, but refuse to give *THEM* time to get to know them!"
I thought that this particular pronoun was referring  to "the audience"
so it was
not affected by the number of characters.
But maybe I misunderstood what you wrote.
Thanks for the help.

 so it was not affected by the number of characters.
I didn't mean the pronoun that immediate follows, but rather the one that
follows which refers to the characters. But you are right, I made an 
assumption that the reader would know that and my sentence didn't clearly 
identify the second "them."


Lo si potrebbe tradurre come "potere costituito"?
-- 
Sylar Surfer