Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.
It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his front in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a torch in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, ‘Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless—discuss’.
[color=red]Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.
Can [color=blue]most be used here to mean the same as[color=blue] highly?
[color=red]For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year.
[color=blue]The summer holidays and [color=blue]the summer holiday, are they different?
[color=blue]any other time of year, why is there no “[color=blue]the” before “[color=blue]year”? Is it a fixed expression? If we say, “[color=blue]January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December are the months of the year” , we can not leave out the word “[color=blue]the” before the word “[color=blue]year”, right?
It’s a little early in the morning for reading aloud, but…
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.
It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his front in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a torch in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic, by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, ‘Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless—discuss’.
Hopefully the above reading answers questions number 1 and 2.
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘Do the names imply something?’ Within the story Azkaban is a place. Bathilda Bagshot is the name of the author of one of Harry’s reference books.
You could get away with ‘most’ but ‘very’ would be a better fit.
In Britain the longest of the school holidays is frequently referred to as ‘the Summer holidays’, despite the fact that it is one long holiday), so, no.
Time of (the) year - both with and without the article are acceptable.
Without:
At any other time of (this or any other) year.
With:
At any other time of the year. (time within the space of a year)
You are correct about your ‘months’ sentence, though in that case, you could leave out ‘the’ before ‘months’!
I remember the children’s books I read when I was a kid. The characters of the story sometimes were named according to their own characters, their roles or their destiny in the story. That’s why asked if they had any special meanings or not.
How come [color=blue]most is not as good as [color=blue]very? Is it because it’s too formal to fit in the atmosphere(I’m not sure if this is the right word)?
I got this sentence in a dictionary:
[color=red]Thank you for a most interesting evening.
Let me try to answer the two questions you posed in your messages. Bearing in mind that I have no knowledge of Harry Potter I would say that the names of characters in fiction or drama invariably reflect their personality and attitude. You can see this very clearly in Shakespeare creating characters with names like Malvolio, Toby Belch and Andrew Aguecheek and in the 19th century the many names that Charles Dickens gives to his characters. As for ‘very’ ‘most’ and ‘highly’ used to qualify an adjective I would say that they seem to range in degrees of intensity, with ‘very’ at the bottom, ‘most’ in the middle and ‘highly’ at the top.
You will find that for some of the names in the HP books too to a certain extent, but it is not so much the name itself as the association that can be made.
For example, the professors: ‘Snape’ just doesn’t sound as soft as ‘Tonks’. ‘Tonks’ sounds silly, just as her character is.
the Houses: ‘Slytherin’ sounds ‘slithery’.
I don’t want to give anything away, but ‘Askaban’ just seems like a suitable sort of word to describe the place. I don’t think Bathilda puts in an appearance.
[color=red]the blankets
Do you usually use “blankets” in everyday life or it just means that Harry uses more than one to get himself completely covered?
