Should associations be association?

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In addition, does "in a more personal vein" mean "in a more personal feeling"?

Context:
In a more personal vein my own associations with thousands of Yenching hsiao-yu (alumni) has been an inexpressibly joyous one.

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@oristarA,

Quote:

Should associations be association?

I think Ori it might depend on the context etc If ongoing, then singular, if on-and-off then maybe plural

Quote:

In addition, does "in a more personal vein" mean "in a more personal feeling"?

I guess it's a little more general than that. Help, somebody

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@oristarA,

Association (goes better with "joyous one")

"more personal vein" is fine.

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@oristarA,

1. "Association" (singular) should match 'has been a joyous one', so the writer should have used the singular. If he feels his joy comes from his association with each alumnus as an individual then maybe he would have written something like "In a more personal vein my own associations with thousands of Yenching hsiao-yu (alumni) have been inexpressibly joyous."

(Is the writer a native speaker? The sentence is somewhat confused. Could be the final 's' be a typo?)

2. The word 'vein' to do with writing or speech means quality, style, tendency, or mood:

He closes his article in a somewhat humorous vein.

He started his speech with a joke and then continued in a more serious vein.

(Note that the article 'a' can be omitted if desired')

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@contrex,

Ori, Con has nailed it much better than I

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@dalehileman,

I refer you to my earlier remarks.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Sorry Mac but what remarks where

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

(Is the writer a native speaker? The sentence is somewhat confused. Could be the final 's' be a typo?)

The writer is Dr. John Leighton Stuart; the 's' is there, but the book is the photocopy and so its search function is virtually disabled. Or I'd have screened it to show you.

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@contrex,

Here's another question:

Quote:

I met Dr. Stuart for the first time at Nanking, China, in the late Spring, as I recall, of 1946. He was returning from a lengthy visit to the United States, recuperating from his years of imprisonment by the Japanese.

I failed to understand " He was returning from a lengthy visit to the United States." It seems to me that he was returning to the United States (returning from where? From a lengthy visit (probably in China).
Am I on the right track?

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@oristarA,

Quote:

I failed to understand " He was returning from a lengthy visit to the United States." It seems to me that he was returning to the United States (returning from where? From a lengthy visit (probably in China).
Am I on the right track?

No.
He sounds like a Brit to me, with a name like that, btw.
He had been a prisoner of the Japanese.
He had a long stay in the USA, recuperating.
He was then returning home. (Probably to the UK)

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

He sounds like a Brit to me, with a name like that, btw.
He had been a prisoner of the Japanese.
He had a long stay in the USA, recuperating.
He was then returning home. (Probably to the UK)

Way off target, McTag! John Leighton Stuart (1876 – 1962) was the first President of Yenching University and later United States ambassador to China. Born in Hangzhou, China, on June 24, 1876, of Presbyterian missionary parents from the United States. Although an American by nationality who spoke English with a southern accent, Stuart considered himself Chinese more than an American. He spoke the Hangzhou dialect. He was sent to school in the U.S. state of Virginia, where his outdated clothing and mid-19th century diction handed down from his missionary parents in China led to his being teased by classmates. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College and later Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

It seems to me that he was returning to the United States (returning from where? From a lengthy visit (probably in China).
Am I on the right track?

You are on the opposite track to the correct one! It is quite clear:

I met Dr. Stuart for the first time at Nanking, China ... He was returning from a lengthy visit to the United States

I thought I had already told you in another thread that Stuart was born in China and spent most of his life there.

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Should associations be association?

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