@JTT,
EDITED AND REPOSTED - to get rid of all the underlined.
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Quote:-I envy thee seeing a Coral Island. Did we read together Curzon's Monasteries Of The East? Robert Byron, that clever young writer killed in the War, has had republished his excellent book on Mt Athos, beautifully written and deeply interesting.
HAS HAD REPUBLISHED HIS...='has had his excellent book on Mt Athos republished, which is written and deeply interesting'
But he is dead, how can he publish a book? Is it usual in English to use such a sentence to say, presumably, a publisher has had his book republished?
This structure, "has/have STH done" is a semi-passive, as is "get STH done".
And also "has/have SB do STH" and "get SB to do STH'.
We often use these to describe things we arrange to have done for us by outside help, experts in their field, etc.
I'm going to have/get my car fixed on Friday.
She has her hair done every week.
They never cook. They have their meals prepared for them.
The subject often arranges these various situations but the subject does not have to do the arranging. Though it's easy to assume that the Subject of the sentence also did the arranging, that's not necessarily true. It can be another party who made the arrangements.
I'm going to have/get my car fixed on Friday. My wife made the arrangements.
She has her hair done every week. Her personal secretary arranges it.
They never cook. They have their meals prepared for them. Their personal secretary arranges it.
Setanta described such a situation. The family, the executor of the estate, even the publisher could be the unspoken agent who arranged the republishing of the book.
The more common form, "S has had his book republished" has been inverted, likely for stylistic reasons.
"... that clever young writer killed in the War, has had republished, [by some unspoken agent] his excellent book on Mt Athos ... ."
Quote:But in English, when a person is dead, shouldn't we change the tense to the corresponding past tense?
I really really hate these silly prescriptions. [Not blaming you, WB.] Like modals have tense!! Dumb, dumb, dumb!
They have made it much much harder for ESLs to become competent in what they are striving for, competency in English.
Again, CONTEXT CONTEXT CONTEXT, then CONTEXT, and finally, CONTEXT.
Of course, it's only common sense that many, most [???] of the things that we talk of about living people using the PrP are denied to us when a person dies.
He has told me ... /He has eaten a large pizza by himself.
The reason for that is, the PrP carries within it a very very very strong sense of UP TO NOW. It's hard for a dead person to do UP TO NOW.
But there are still some situations where a dead person can be included in events/situations that continue to the present.
This present situation is one example, where it is possible that the dead young man personally arranged to have his book republished after his death.
Some people continue to have a large influence after their deaths.
He/She has/They have played a larger role, have had a greater influence in their community after his/her/their death(s) than before.