Grammatical Query

Schumi

I am writing a short story that carries the line, 'He was a gifted practitioner of sixty two years." The central character of the story is sixty two years old, but does this line imply as such or does it come across as being how many years he has been a doctor?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

cooper

Schumi. When I first read it I thought it meant he had been a doctor for that long. Let me think about an alternative or maybe some other TBer might help you out.

Mutley

Perhaps "He had been a gifted practitioner since qualifying forty years ago"

flyingtart

Or, "He had been a gifted practitioner for many of his sixty two years."

Mutley

Yes I prefer that flyingtart.

Butterfly

I read it thinking he'd been practicing for sixty two years. I like both Mutley's and Flyingtart's ideas.

Carol

I read it as he was a gifted practitioner of sixty two years of age.
Either of the suggestions from Mutley or Flyingtart sound good, but I would ask a gifted practitioner of what? Do you mean he is a doctor, because practitioner to me suggests a number of things he could be doing. This may be nit-picking, as you may have made his proffession clear earlier.

Mutley

Carol you are starting to sound like a lawyer!

Carol

(It comes from having autistic children, we tend to be more precise so we don't cause confusion.) :)

Mutley

Heaven only knows what that must do to a lawyer friend of mine who has an autistic child.

Carol

Hard work.

Celtic C

I also wondered what he practiced? He was a practitioner of 62 years of what?
Would it be better to qualify practice with the word general - making him a General Practitioner? (I'm jumping to conclusions here though, this might not be taking place in the UK)
Even giving Practitioner a capital P would clarify a career.
How about simplifying it to something like,
"At 62, he was a gifted General Practitioner"
Sorry, hope this doesn't come across as pedantic - hope it helps!

Carol

Sounds much better that way.

Verica

I agree with ft: He had been a gifted doctor for for many of his 62 years.

cooper

I believed the use of the word practitioner suggested doctor.

CC. Think you've clocked it there. Quite brilliant.

pamela

'He was sixty-two years old and a gifted practitioner.' Although personally I wouldn't link the two bits of information together at all. Not quite sure why. So you can ignore that as inane. But do we need to know what he was practising or are we just being nosy?

cooper

Pamela. You are so lovely. You've just B******d up my stats againt IG who keeps trying to post more than me at this time of night. I am determined to named the thread assassin. I'll be here for five mor minuted. Why are you up so late?

pamela

Not sure really. Just the house is quiet and I thought I'd look in and catch up. It's lovely being here. Sorry about the stats...

cooper

Know what you mean about the quiet night. Apolgy accepted, it was only just a bit of fun.

pamela

Exactly you lovely person

By the way who's winning?

Just testing something

Everytime I press the post your comments button I see, very briefly, a message to me. It says something like Pamela just wait a minute...is this something to do with the hug thing or is it a cyber ghost or do I need to get my glasses changed or...oh no I've just remembered this - a few days ago I reported myself as offensive (don't ask). So is it the internet police trying to aprehend me?

Schumi

Thank you for all your suggestions. In the sentence before the one in question, I made it clear that the character was a doctor. It reads better now.

Thanks again.

Jenny

Pamela - Perhaps you're being monitored!!!

pamela

Aaaagh.........

Betsie

For sixty-two years he'd been a gifted practitioner