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January 19[edit]

What does "would have followed" mean?[edit]

Sentence: it was likely that Phoenix would have followed [Interview with the Vampire] by appearing as Susan Sarandon's son in Safe Passage (1994), a role that went to Sean Astin. Source Rizosome (talk) 15:39, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It means that River Phoenix, the actor in question, was scheduled act in the film Safe Passage after he acted in the film Interview with the Vampire, that is he was going to follow his role in Interview with the Vampire with a role in Safe Passage. He ended up acting in neither, having died shortly before filming of Interview with the Vampire was scheduled to begin. He was replaced in that movie by Christian Slater, and in Safe Passage by Sean Astin. --Jayron 32 17:14, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For the grammar of the construction would have followed, see Conditional perfect. Deor (talk) 17:20, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For a bit more on that, the lead of that article notes that conditional perfect tense is used in counterfactual cases. This means they describe things that did not happen, but which were going to happen but for some other event. In this case, Phoenix's death prevented him from acting in the films. --Jayron 32 17:26, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The quoted Guardian article has "Phoenix would have followed that by ...". Since the referent of "that", mentioned earlier in the Guardianarticle, would not be clear in the context of the quotation, the editor adding the quote replaced "that" by "[Interview with the Vampire]". Using square brackets is a standard convention for signalling an editorial alteration of an otherwise literal quotation; see Bracket § Uses in published text. --Lambiam 09:39, 20 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Term for "play on words"[edit]

Is there a term in language that includes: Euphemisms, Malapropisms, Faux Pas, Metaphors, Idioms, Puns, Oxymorons and Double Entendres ? Charles Juvon (talk) 18:40, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Some are Rhetorical figures, some are language mistakes, and some are wordplay in the literal sense (jocularities). AnonMoos (talk) 20:56, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@AnonMoos: Thank you. You have an amazing userpage! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Charles Juvon (talk • contribs) 01:39, 20 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]