Subj : to pull the door to against
To   : Alexander Koryagin
From : August Abolins
Date : Thu Dec 26 2019 20:00:27

On 23/12/2019 12:46 a.m., Alexander Koryagin : All wrote:

> -----Beginning of the citation-----
[snip]

> With his hands still in his coat pockets he stalked by me into the hall,
> turned sharply as if he were on a wire, and disappeared into the living-
> room. It wasn't a bit funny. Aware of the loud beating of my own heart I
> pulled the door to against the increasing rain.
> ----- The end of the citation -----
>


AK> It "against" a verb? ;-)

Hello Alexander,

What a strange sentence Fitzgerald is using!  At first, I thought this was a 
printing error.  But lo and behold, it is exactly the same in physical print. 
The sentence would sound better to me without the "to" in front of "against" 
and still render the meaning well enough.

But apparently, Fitz is using an archaic form of "against" as a conjunction.   
The use of the word hear is to mean "in preparation of time or a delay" or "to 
oppose" something.

I've read the book many years ago, and don't recall too many issues like the 
above. I probably just assumed they were printing errors and moved on.

Hope this helps!

PS.  You picked a challenging book if you want learn english.  There are 
probably many more archaic uses of words in it.

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