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Stenka25 Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
A Question regarding Ellipsis
A Question regarding Ellipsis
http://evolbiol.ru/blankslate/blankslate.htm
Modern man is an actor of many parts who may well be stretched to his limit by the constantly shifting demands of the environment.
As for the inevitability of aggression — another dangerous idea he was accused of holding — what Wilson had written was that in the course of human evolution “aggressiveness was constrained and the old forms of primate dominance replaced by complex social skills.” The accusation that Wilson (a lifelong liberal Democrat) was led by personal prejudice to defend racism, sexism, inequality, slavery, and genocide was especially unfair — and irresponsible, because Wilson became a target of vilification and harassment by people who read the manifesto but not the book.
I'd like to ask a question regarding this passage.
I think 'was' should be put before the underlined 'replaced'.
(Am I right?)
But redundancy make this ellipsis of 'was' possible.
(Am I right?)
Regards.
http://evolbiol.ru/blankslate/blankslate.htm
Modern man is an actor of many parts who may well be stretched to his limit by the constantly shifting demands of the environment.
As for the inevitability of aggression — another dangerous idea he was accused of holding — what Wilson had written was that in the course of human evolution “aggressiveness was constrained and the old forms of primate dominance replaced by complex social skills.” The accusation that Wilson (a lifelong liberal Democrat) was led by personal prejudice to defend racism, sexism, inequality, slavery, and genocide was especially unfair — and irresponsible, because Wilson became a target of vilification and harassment by people who read the manifesto but not the book.
I'd like to ask a question regarding this passage.
I think 'was' should be put before the underlined 'replaced'.
(Am I right?)
But redundancy make this ellipsis of 'was' possible.
(Am I right?)
Regards.
Top answer
) No, it 'shouldn't'. It is fine as it is. ) Not redundancy; style.
- ) No, it 'shouldn't'.
- It is fine as it is.
- ) Not redundancy; style.
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3 Answers
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Stenka25I think 'was' should be put before the underlined 'replaced'.(Am I right?)No, it 'shouldn't'. It is fine as it is.
Stenka25But redundancy make this ellipsis of 'was' possible.(Am I right?)Not redundancy; style.
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Stenka25... “aggressiveness was constrained and the old forms of primate dominance (were) replaced by complex social skills."were" is the ellipsis, not "was", but you've got the basic idea right. It's a matter of parallelism that makes "were" unnecessary.
CJ
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Thanks a lot as always, MM.
Thanks a DOUBLE lot for your double checking, CJ.
Thanks a DOUBLE lot for your double checking, CJ.
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