On n’a retrouvé que les débris de la carlingue... Frédéric – Décidément, mon père sera resté jusqu’au bout quelqu’un de très... insaisissable.
2
Only the remains of the plane were found...
Frédéric – Clearly, my father would remain a very... elusive person till the end.
Translated by marina 20677 4 months, 3 weeks ago
1
Only the  wreckage of the fuselage was found...
Frédéric – Trust  my father to remain a very... elusive person, right till the end.
Translated by marina 20677 4 months, 2 weeks ago
0
Only the  wreckage of the fuselage were found...
Frédéric – Trust  my father would remain a very... elusive person, right till the end.
Translated by marina 20677 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Discussion

No need to be sorry! You challenge me to think more deeply about my mother tongue! 😊

by Merlin57 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Sorry

by marina 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Hi Marina, because 'wreckage' is an 'uncountable noun, singular', it refers to the collective remains of one destroyed object, in this case the aircraft, it is gramatically correct to use 'was' rather than 'were'.
Only the wreckage of the fuselage was found . . .

Also, my suggestion was: Trust my father TO remain a very . . . elusive person, right till the end.

If you use would, your sentence would have to read something like: It was clear that my father would remain / I was sure that my father would /
However this would pre-suppose that he had known his father or thought about his father over the years. And we know from the story so far that he had not seen his father since he was five years old and knew very little about him, except that he went to America and hoped to open a restaurant there. Therefore the father has remained 'elusive' and a mystery to him - and that is basically all he knows about him. So he can only confirm that he has remained 'elusive' right to the end. So, as I said, the correct expression would be: Trust my father TO remain . . .

by Merlin57 4 months, 2 weeks ago

much better. Thanks

by marina 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Suggestion Marina:
Only the wreckage of the fuselage was found . . .
Frédéric - Trust my father to remain a very . . . elusive person, right till the end.

by Merlin57 4 months, 2 weeks ago