I'm confused by this sentence:
わたしが答える前に急いで川のふちへ歩いていってしまった。
Before I answered he had hurriedly walked to the river side???.
歩いている means walking i.e. progressive form but しまう denotes completion of a verb. This seems like a contradiction. How do these two parts fit together and what nuance is carried by this construct? How would it differ from 歩いてしまった? Thanks.
Answer
There is no contradiction. You are just seeing a phrase that is not there.
There is no 「歩{ある}いている」 in 「歩いていってしまった」.
There is, however, 「歩いていく」 in it.
「歩いていく」= "to go on foot", "to walk to", etc. can naturally be combined with 「しまう」. ⇒ "(He) already walked to (the river bank)."
Finally, 「歩いてしまった」 could not be used as it makes no sense here. That means "(Someone) walked (though he was not supposed to).", "(Someone) walked (unexpectedly).", etc.
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