https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english/poetry-literature/2561486-may-have-gotten.html

may have gotten

English translation: the reason why one went to some place

14:43 Apr 27, 2008
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / literature
English term or phrase: may have gotten
I cannot understand the second paragraph. Can you explain it?

What I did, after I did happen to go to the basement, was to look at eight or nine cartons of books.

What one does after having happened to get some place often having very little to do with why one may have gotten there, however.

So that perhaps I had no reason whatsoever for having gone to the basement yesterday.
fortunetelle (X)
Local time: 21:47
Selected answer:the reason why one went to some place
Explanation:
What does one do after arriving at some place has not much to do with the reason why one went there in the first instance. The last sentence sheds light on the previous one, the person might have had no reason to go to the basement in the first place. Hope that explains it.
Selected response from:

Edith Kelly
Switzerland
Local time: 19:47
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
3 +2why one went there
Victoria Porter-Burns
3 +2the reason why one went to some place
Edith Kelly
4arrived or came either propelled by the subconscious or by free will
Melanie Aaron (X)


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
why one may have gotten there
why one went there


Explanation:
A US way of saying simply 'why one went there in the first place'.

Victoria Porter-Burns
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:47
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks :)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
10 mins
  -> Thanks Jack

agree  V_Nedkov
1 day 22 hrs
  -> Thanks V_N
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
the reason why one went to some place


Explanation:
What does one do after arriving at some place has not much to do with the reason why one went there in the first instance. The last sentence sheds light on the previous one, the person might have had no reason to go to the basement in the first place. Hope that explains it.

Edith Kelly
Switzerland
Local time: 19:47
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nesrin
1 hr

agree  V_Nedkov
1 day 22 hrs
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2 days 23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
arrived or came either propelled by the subconscious or by free will


Explanation:
To go to the basement seems to be an afterthought - happen is either -

a positive:
to have the fortune or lot

or a negative:
to befall

Without a larger context, it's difficult to say whether the arrival in the basement was of benefit or harmful; however, having found one's self in a location, the speaker looked at boxes of books.

The action of looking at boxes of books: did the speaker look at them as holders of fond memories or of torment? The "at" does not indicate that the speaker touched the boxes, merely looked at them. Maybe subconsciously, the speaker made an excuse to go into the basement, found himself in the basement, looked at the boxes and rejected the reason /attraction of the boxes.

The choice of "gotten" would indicate free will - that the speaker knew he was going there and the reason was related to the boxes.

Melanie Aaron (X)
United States
Local time: 14:47
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