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示せばと / つけた

eeky

先輩
8 Jun 2010
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Hi

1. 万が一マルフォイが見つけた素振りを示せばと、マルフォイからも目を離さなかった

示せばと looks unfamiliar to me. Does the ~えばと combination mean "in case ~"?

2. たちまち、マルフォイが矢のように飛び、ハリーの左手につけた。

What does つけた mean here?
 
1)
It's just the combination of the conditional ば + quotation と. The main clause of the quotation is omitted after ば; 見つけた素振りを示せばすぐに行動を起こそうと, for instance.

2)
つける: to set one's position
つけた is used as a reflexive verb (再帰動詞) there. The intransitive ついた (from つく) also can work.
 
I did consider the quoting meaning for と, but I cannot see what place a quotation has in that sentence. Can you shed any more light on that? Also, could you confirm that the subject of すぐに行動を起こそう in your suggested insertion would be Harry rather than Malfoy? The full sentence is below in case the last part is important (I didn't think it was, originally).

万が一マルフォイが見つけた素振りを示せばと、マルフォイからも目を離さなかったが、マルフォイもハリーと同じく、ピッチを回り続けるばかりで、何の成果もないようだ。
 
すぐに行動を起こそうと決めて/考えて makes more sense?

Yes, the subject of 行動を起こそう and 目を離さなかった is Harry, and the subject of 見つけた素振りを示せば is Malfoy. The last half of the sentence has nothing to do with this interpretation.
 
The sentence is written from the viewpoint of Harry, and と is for quotation, so it's reasonable to presume that the conditional clause is the contents of Harry's thoughts. From this presumption, I think it's not so hard to supplement "thinking" to the clause and get the result "thinking 'if/when Malfoy shows a sign that he has found it, then...'".

Thinking "if/when Malfoy shows a sign that he has found it, then...", Harry kept his eyes also on Malfoy.

How about this interpretation?
 
Thinking "if/when Malfoy shows a sign that he has found it, then...", Harry kept his eyes also on Malfoy.

How about this interpretation?
Yes, I guess once the "thinking" element is in place, the rest does follow. However, it was not at all clear to me originally that that was implied.
 
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