I have told my husband it makes me very uncomfortable and that it almost seems she attends hoping to run into him. Why else would she?
Would someone explain what the part in bold means please?
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1 Answer
This is a more-or-less idiomatic construct. Why else would she? should be interpreted as What other reason (besides ...) is there for her to ... - in this case, What other reason (besides hoping to run into him) is there for her to attend?. Note that this is referring to an action and associated reason identified in the previous sentence: I have told my husband it makes me very uncomfortable and that it almost seems she attends hoping to run into him.
answered Aug 2, 2017 at 13:32
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Unless there's some unspecified prior context that could reasonably serve as the "deleted" main verb after the question (such as the speaker's husband having just asked his wife Why is that woman here?), I think it's semantically and syntactically shaky to assume the missing verb is attend. Strictly speaking, and given only the context we've been provided above, I would say the deleted element is Why else would she have run into him? Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 16:24
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@FumbleFingers - The original, edited out by Lambie (incorrectly, in my opinion) was I have told my husband it makes me very uncomfortable and that it almost seems she attends hoping to run into him. Why else would she? Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 17:00
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@FumbleFingers - Note that I had preserved the original in my answer. Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 17:02
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oic. I hadn't noticed that. Yes, unquestionably your interpretation is the most natural given the exact original. So I must fully endorse your answer (and edit reversal) and actually upvote you. Not that I meaningfully disagreed with the answer in the first place. It just seemed to me there was an element of ambiguity in OP's text as I read it at the time, and I (mistakenly, obviously) thought I might usefully prod you into acknowledging that in the actual answer text. Commented Aug 2, 2017 at 17:14