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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

A question of using "IF"

Hello, I just got a simple question, the other way of using the word- if.

Well, I was reading The Heart Of Darkness, and I saw a sentence has written on the book: "The report is eloquent and powerful, if lacking in practical suggestions."

at first, i speculate that in this sentence, "if" means "but", but i wasnt sure about my guess, could any one tell me what the exac meaning of it?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

" at first, i speculate that in this sentence, "if" means "but", but i wasnt sure about my guess, could any one tell me what the exac meaning of it? Yes, it's close to 'but' in meaning, but 'but' would express the 'lacking' more factually, more strongly. I'd say the 'if' here is like 'even if', and expresses the 'lacking' as a strong possibility, eg 'the report may be and probably is lacking in practical suggestions'.

— Clive

  • " at first, i speculate that in this sentence, "if" means "but", but i wasnt sure about my guess, could any one tell me what the exac meaning of it?
  • Yes, it's close to 'but' in meaning, but 'but' would express the 'lacking' more factually, more strongly.
  • I'd say the 'if' here is like 'even if', and expresses the 'lacking' as a strong possibility, eg 'the report may be and probably is lacking in practical suggestions'.
  • Best wishes, Clive.
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2 Answers
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Hi,

Well, I was reading The Heart Of Darkness, and I saw a sentence has written on the book: "The report is eloquent and powerful, if lacking in practical suggestions."

at first, i speculate that in this sentence, "if" means "but", but i wasnt sure about my guess, could any one tell me what the exac meaning of it?
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gotcha.

well, it's amazing that u replied so fast, u were like off the top of ur head, genius~
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