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Sunday, March 11, 2012
Friday, March 02, 2012
One of the best love ballads, and Whitney's greatest hit. It was number 1 in the States for 14 weeks, which was a record at the time.
IF I SHOULD STAY= This is a conditional sentence mixing types 1 and 2: “If I should stay, I would only be in your way”.
Type 1: if-present + will = If you love me, I will marry you (you probably love me)
Type 2: if-past + would = If you loved me, I would marry you (but you don’t, or it’s very improbable)
We can use SHOULD in type 1 to make the condition less probable:
- If you see my sister, tell her I’m looking for her (maybe you will see her)
- If you should see my sister, tell her I’m looking for her (I don’t think you’ll see her, but maybe you will)
Here, we are using “if-should + would” instead of “if-past + would” with the same result. “Should” is making the condition less probable:
- If you should love me, I would marry you = If you loved me, I would marry you. (but you don’t love me)
- If I should stay, I would only be in your way = but I won’t stay, I’m leaving.
IN YOUR WAY= Bothering, causing trouble.
EVERY STEP OF THE WAY= All the time, in every moment of my life ("the way" = "my life").
BITTERSWEET= Something “bitter” is sour, acid, like a lemon, and something “sweet” is like honey or sugar, so something “bittersweet” has a mixture of both things, like the well-known Chinese sauce for pork. We can also use it in a figurative sense, like here. A bittersweet memory is a memory that makes us feel happy (sweet) because it brings back good feelings, but at the same time makes us sad (bitter) because when I remember you and your love, I miss you so much.
CRY= Weep, shed tears (water drops) through your eyes.
KIND= This is an adverbial of manner, so it should be “kindly”, but in colloquial English (especially AmE) it is very common to use an adjective instead of an adverb:
- I feel good = I feel well
- You drive too slow = too slowly
ABOVE ALL THIS= More important that this.
“Above” /əbʌv/ = over, higher than.