I didn't think about the second meaning for "this", but yeah, you're right
repeating "and"
that's true, sometimes during events with strong emotions, when your thought process is slowed, repeating "and" s tend to happen because of the fact that your mind comes up with more examples and so you have trouble moving on to the next point
anymany
I would have written FOR a moment like you said, I haven’t heard of that way of wording it and it sounds rather awkward to me.
As for the word “this”, this was quite challenging but here’s what I came up with. The since “a” and “this” are both swords used to define a singular noun, the difference is how specified you want it. It does serve a type of emphasis. Compare “when you go to work, grab A lunch box” and “when you go to work, grab “THIS” lunchbox. “A” means that it doesn’t really matter which one, “this” specifies that there is a specific one worth paying attention to. “A” sense of humor means that she had one. “this” sense of humor means that she had a very special sense of humor like no other, something that the author or speaker wants the reader/listener to keep in mind
That good looking Vs all that good looking is another tough one to pinpoint since it’s a bit of a vibe in my opinion. It feels like it’s trying to say it in a more gentle way, the emphasis changes from “that” to “all” which feels like it’s implying that she still had plenty of beauty instead of just pointing out that she didn’t look good.
To enter into one’s eye means to be made aware something of importance/odd. But since section after the colon seems to be talking about betsy’s eyes, it seems to me that instead, it’s saying that there was something strange/ odd about betsy’s eyes. In this case, the fact of how big they got when betsy touched Isabel’s hair. This sentence is actually rather confusing
Lip biting is not just for sexual moments but for any moment with intense emotion. When someone is thinking really hard, they bite their lip; when someone is very nervous, they bite their lip; when someone is sexually excited, they bite their lip; etc. this is lip biting is probably because she’s feeling uncomfortable. The reason why people bite their lips during strong emotion is because pain is another strong emotion, so if they can focus on the pain of the lip bite, then perhaps they will pay less attention to other strong emotions and have a more clear head, or at least that’s a common thought
Repeating “and” is often to add emphasis, it stresses the repeating nature of some things. In a similar way to “and over, and over, and over, and over,….” , “this and, and [that], and [that], and [that]” shows that something that might be bothersome keeps happening, in this case, people kept repeating cliché phrases to betsy, and those phrases probably didn’t make her feel better and the repetition of them probably made betsy more annoyed which you correctly pointed out when she said “I feel like shit”.
This story was actually quite confusing at times, some of the grammar is a little weird and the stuff you ask was pretty good for clarification. I tried my best to explain it as concisely as I could but some of this stuff feels like it has a ton of nuance to and so if you feel like you want further clarification, don’t be afraid to ask
Precipitation24
Thank you very much for reading this article and for your comments! As always, the explanations are very useful, and thanks to you, I was able to come up with a good translation idea.
Missing "for
I see. I understand that it sounds unnatural in English because it can affect the structure of sentences.
"THIS" vs. "A"
I could understand with your explanation. This "this" had emphasis and a specific role! Another possibility that came to my mind is that she sees herself as a girl with a sense of humor inherited from her mother.
"So good-looking" vs. "So good-looking
That is another clear explanation. This is a Japanese topic, but according to your explanation, I felt more natural saying "美人なほうじゃない" instead of "いうほど美人じゃない".
"To enter into one's eye"
This part is an expression that even native speakers can interpret in two ways. I think that sentences like this are often used in emotional novels.
Biting one's lip
This gesture is used to express strong emotions! The way American cartoon characters bite their lips is very cute, and this is one of the important expressions I learned from American art.
Repeating "and
Thank you! I think the writer put a lot of thought into Betsy's use of "and". I'm not a native English speaker, but I think the reason she uses this kind of expression so much is because she has "A and B" in her mind when she says it, and before she finishes saying it, the third element "C" comes to her mind. In this story, Betsy's mother was said to be a person with such tendencies. So I think Betsy thinks she's a girl very much like her mother.
Again, thank you for your comments on my article! I have many more questions I would like to ask you, but they are more about how short stories should be, so I will ask them in the future.