consume the queen entire

[Mnemon]

He knew her death would start a fire that would consume the queen entire.
From the movie A Monster Calls

Entire or entirely, which one you'd use here? Do they both work for you?

 

[jutfrank]

It looks very much that there is meant to be a rhyme with fire, which means that only entire works.

 

[Tdol]

Without looking for a rhyme, I'd use entirely.

 

[Phaedrus]

It looks very much that there is meant to be a rhyme with fire, which means that only entire works.

The extra syllable that the -ly would add may not have been desired, either, the stress pattern yielding two rhyming lines of iambic tetrameter:

"He knew | her death | would start | a fire
that would | consume | the queen | entire."

Sometimes entire is used instead of entirely in such a way that the meaning does not overlap. It's comparable to the use of whole in He swallowed the oyster whole, which does not mean that he wholly swallowed it (there wasn't any part of it that remained in his mouth) but, rather, that he swallowed it as a whole (in one swallow).

Similarly, if I said that I would quote something entire, that would be different from saying that I would quote it entirely. Quoting something entirely means not leaving any part of it unquoted, though the parts of the passage need not be quoted together. Quoting something entire means quoting the whole thing all at once.

 

[jutfrank]

I'll also point out that entire and entirely have two distinct meanings, as I see it.

Using entire means the monster eats the queen without chewing her up—she goes down the throat all in one piece (like 'to eat something whole'), whereas using entirely just means that the monster eats all of the queen, without leaving any leftovers.


[cross-posted (that was a concidence!)]

 

[emsr2d2]

And which one is meant can be worked out by how the sentence could be reworded:

... her death would start a fire that would entirely (completely) consume the queen.
... her death would start a fire that would consume the entire (whole) queen.

 

[jutfrank]

I've just realised it's not a monster consuming the queen as I mentioned in post #5 but a fire. Perhaps I should sleep ...

 

[Mnemon]

He knew her death would start a fire that would consume the queen entire.

I think the problem here lies in the fact that the adjective hasn't been placed properly!
- He knew her death would start a fire that would consume the entire queen.
And for the adverb,
- He knew her death would start a fire that would consume the queen entirely.
Probably it was just written that way simply because of its poetic rhythm, but I don't think it's common practice.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think the problem here lies in the fact that the adjective hasn't been placed properly!
- He knew her death would start a fire that would consume the entire queen.
And for the adverb,
- He knew her death would start a fire that would consume the queen entirely.
Probably it was just written that way simply because of its poetic rhythm, but I don't think it's common practice.

You've basically just repeated all the responses we gave in this thread and presented them as if you'd worked it out yourself!

I agree with the others that it has been used this way because it rhymes. Bear in mind that poetry, or any sort of rhyming prose, doesn't have to follow grammatical rules.

 

[Mnemon]

You've basically just repeated all the responses we gave in this thread and presented them as if you'd worked it out yourself!

You really think so, do you?
You can think of it this way, I summed up what I gathered, of course after reading the comments, so someone could come up and correct me if by any chance I got them wrong.

 

[Tdol]

Can we cool things down a bit? We're chatting not fighting.

 

[Mnemon]

We're chatting not fighting.

You can say that again!