Section 7 To Forgive Is to Forget1
“I can forgive, but I cannot forget,” is2 only another way of saying: “I will not forgive.” A wrong once forgiven3 ought4 to be like5 a cancelled note6, torn in two and burned up, so7 that it never can be shown against the man.
—Rev. H. W. Beecher.
Notes
1 ‘to be’, here = to signify, heißen.
2 is — saying = signifies only in (mit) other words. ‘Das Wort’ has two plural forms with a different meaning to each: die Wörter, single, unconnected words; die Worte, words connected into speech.
3 A. Whilst the English Perfect Participle (commonly called Past Participle) is placed both before and after the noun it qualifies, the German Past Participle used attributively, as a rule, precedes the qualified noun; as—
We met with a ship bound for Bremen. Wir trafen ein nach Bremen bestimmtes Schiff.
B. Clauses containing a Perfect Participle, however, may also be rendered by the help of a relative pronoun. Thus rendered, the preceding sentence would read:
Wir trafen ein Schiff, welches nach Bremen bestimmt war;
but the first rendering is certainly more concise than the second, and it is to be preferred in all cases where the attributive construction would not be too lengthy. ‘A wrong once forgiven’, say ‘A forgiven wrong’, and mark that: When Participles are used attributively, and precede the noun they qualify, they must be inflected like adjectives.
4 render ‘ought’ by the imperfect of sollen.
5 like, wie.
6 note, Schuldschein, m.; to tear in two, zerrei´ßen; to burn up, verbren´nen. According to the rule given in N. 3, the participles of these two verbs have to be placed before the noun ‘note’, which they qualify.
7 ‘so — man’, say ‘which never again can be used against the debtor’. According to the hint given in S. 2, N. 1, the verb is in the passive voice, and since the clause is a subordinate one, the verbs must stand at the end of the clause. Place the p. p. first, and the copula (can) last.