Does the sentence 'There's only so much I can do' mean "I've done everything I could" or "There's still something I could do but my power is limited and it may not be enough"? In other words, is that "so much" already done or not?
Learn English – What does ‘There’s only so much I can do’ mean
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"Stick your fork in it and see if it's done."
To stick a fork into something can have a negative meaning, along the lines of 'I don't like it, it's terrible, it's not good', or, per definition 2 of the link, 'To be completely destroyed or defeated'. Or as in The Urban Dictionary (TUD) entry 3 'Indicating a losing or lost cause'.
So, being music and song, when lines can have many meanings, it seems a play on words of both "a fork in the road" as a decision or "another turning point" and to just stick a fork in the road, because I think the situation (or my life) is terrible or even a lost cause, and/or it shows that my attitude toward the turning point in life, or all of life, is negative.
But, as always, poetry and song lyrics are open to multiple interpretations, some of which may be unintended or even unknown to the writer(s).
As was pointed out on that other question you linked, this is a surprisingly tricky sentence!
Let's slowly build it up.
It will take someone else.
What is "it"? Stopping Voldemort again. Implied but never directly said. As for "take", we could say "need" instead, just to be slightly clearer.
[Stopping Voldemort again] will [need] someone else.
This isn't "someone else" as in "we need a different person", but as in "we need other people prepared to do what you did, Harry". When will they be needed? "Next time" (that is, the next time that Voldemort tries to return).
[Stopping Voldemort again] will [need] someone else who is prepared to [do the same as Harry] next time.
Now, Dumbledore is saying that this someone else doesn't have to do much. Hence, it will "merely" (or "only") take someone else. This may sound like it's demeaning Harry's efforts, but it's meant to be reassuring Harry: standing up to Voldemort is not very difficult or unlikely after all, and it doesn't take someone extra-special to do it.
[Stopping Voldemort again] will merely [need] someone else who is prepared to [do the same as Harry] next time.
What, exactly, did Harry do that Dumbledore says they need other people to do (or be prepared to do)? "Fight a losing battle"--or what seems like a losing battle. (Dumbledore omits the word "like", but I'll leave it in for this one example.)
[Stopping Voldemort again] will merely [need] someone else who is prepared to fight a losing battle next time.
[Stopping Voldemort again] will merely [need] someone else who is prepared to fight what seems [like] a losing battle next time.
And now we just replace the bracketed bits with the different wording Dumbledore uses, and we have the sentence (okay, part of a sentence) that you bolded.
It will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time.
Best Answer
does not formally address the past at all. In context, it may be possible to infer that nothing, something, or everything was done in the past, but the words above on their own are silent on the issue.
certainly implies that I used to be able to do more. In a formal sense, it only speaks to a difference in past and present capacity and is silent on action. However, it usually would be intended to imply that I previously used to do something without necessarily implying that I used to do everything.
Similarly
does not imply anything about the present or future. Again, it does not formally say anything about action; it formally speaks only to past capacity. Usually, however, it would be intended to imply that something, but definitely not everything, was done in the past.
They are vague usages that formally speak only to capacity, but usually imply partial action.