help us investigate how language works!!!

[anahip]

PLEASE... we are Argentinian students studying the way language works and need some help from English-speaking people. You only have to provide your own interpretation for the following texts. Do you find any difficulty in particular?

The following days were unlike any that had gone before. There wasn't a man on the ranch who didn't know of Saturday's race and the conditions under which it would be run. They gave any excuses to get near the black stallion's corral.

The sun climbed higher, and with its ascent the desert changed. There was nothing Lucy liked so much as the smell and feel of fur. One evening, after dark, she crept away and tried to open the first gate, but swing and tug as she might she could not budge the pin.

Thank you!

[Ragged-Robin]

Interesting: at first reading it seems straightforward but as I read it more I can see grammatical constructs that could confuse non-native English readers. It's literary in style, ie, some words are unnecessary for the strict meaning. Eg, "following days unlike any that had gone before". Of course you can only compare now with previous days so "that had gone before" is, strictly, unnecessary and "The following days were unique" works but is boring and wouldn't be how (most) people would say it. Equally "there wasn't a man" could be replaced by "Nobody", unless the writer is trying to tell us or remind us that there are only men on the ranch or that, if there are women, they don't count! "Conditions under which it would be run" again is used in common speech but "Running conditions" would do and "under which" though commonly used is akin to "carried out" which is another widely-used English phrase that adds nothing except noise. There are other phrases, "[liked] so much" and "as she might" which don't jar for me but I'd hate to do a literal translation. The one (only?) punctuation problem for a great many people, including native English speakers, is the apostrophe. Stallion's is correct as it refers to something belonging to one stallion, a corral. But this general rule is not applied with the word "its" as in "its ascent". You would think that its should have an apostrophe and this is the only case it doesn't to avoid confusion with it's which is short for it is.

[Peter Pedant]

passage 1

The later days were different. Everyone knew of the race and its conditions. Every man tried to get near the black horse's stable.

passage 2

As the sun rose, the shaows in the desert grew shorter. Lucy loved fur - both its smelll and feel. One night, she tried to open a gate. She was not able to.

Passage 1 sentence 2 - a double negative which is frowned upon in clear English. Third sentence, excuse is plural and in London English I would expect a singular.

Passage 2 Sentence 2 is unclear.
Superficially, it looks like Lucy hates fur but in fact she likes it ! This construction is OK for literary
books but not in conversation.

sentence 4 is understated. swing as she might = she swung with al her force. This is not obvious from the words and the sense is idiomatic.

anyway that is what I think - GOod Luck