I came across what seems to be incorrect grammar in a book I am reading [Mercè Rodoreda’s In Diamond Square, published by Virago Modern Classics]. Then I wondered if it was intentional, because the narrator isn’t not very educated. But I believe this was the only such example in the book, which makes me think it is not intentional. It is a translation, and it doesn’t seem to be a great one- including the fact that almost all of the he Catalan names have been anglicised.

I often comment on books in translation and say, I think it was a great translation, without having read the original (or without speaking the original language). And people ask me how I can tell. Well, I can definitely tell this is not a great translation. So, I guess, that goes both ways, for the good and the bad ones. You can just tell.