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016 End-weight versus subject-before-predicate
!!!The development of a young squirrel reared by its mother and that of an artificially reared one are compared.
At first sight this translation looks grammatically correct -- so what is so awkward-sounding about it? The translator has slavishly followed the English rule of subject before predicate, but has ignored the fact that English prefers the longest noun phrase at the end of the sentence:
A comparison is made of a young squirrel reared by its mother and another one reared artificially.
Similarly, predicates like "...are presented" or "...are studied" can be transformed into nominalized introductions like "A presentation is made of..." and "A study is made of..."
At first sight this translation looks grammatically correct -- so what is so awkward-sounding about it? The translator has slavishly followed the English rule of subject before predicate, but has ignored the fact that English prefers the longest noun phrase at the end of the sentence:
A comparison is made of a young squirrel reared by its mother and another one reared artificially.
Similarly, predicates like "...are presented" or "...are studied" can be transformed into nominalized introductions like "A presentation is made of..." and "A study is made of..."
zehrovak |
Latest page update: made by zehrovak
, Jul 17 2007, 3:21 PM EDT
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