016 End-weight versus subject-before-predicateThis is a featured page

!!!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..."


zehrovak
zehrovak
Latest page update: made by zehrovak , Jul 17 2007, 3:21 PM EDT (about this update About This Update zehrovak Edited by zehrovak

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