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Please tell me what is meant by 'as foul as it has been' below
Please tell me what is meant by the underlined part
The English air is as foul as it has been at any point since my childhood. It is as if the sewers have burst.
Does the above mean that the English air has never been this foul as it is now since the author's childhood or Does it mean the English air is as foul now as it has been since he was born?
Thank you.
The author is saying the air is as bad as he has ever seen, or possibly worse. In other words, the air may have been this bad during his childhood. The implication is that since that time the air got better, and now it has gotten worse again.
An additional implication could also be that it may have been worse before he was born.
