All with

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Hi teachers,  Excerpts:China hopes to learn from Singapore and Hong Kong on how to eliminate poverty, protect the environment, and raise citizens' per capita income, all with minimal political liberalization.1. Does "all with minimal political liberalization" mean China hopes to achieve the three things mentioned in the text from miminal political liberalization?2.  In constructing a sentence like this, could 'all with mininal political liberalization' be place at the begining of the sentence, in front of 'China hopes to learn ...'?Thank you very much.Tinanam

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

tinanam01021. Does "all with minimal political liberalization" mean China hopes to achieve the three things mentioned in the text from miminal political liberalization?

Yes. China hopes to achieve all (three things) with minimal political liberalization, that is, without liberalizing any more than is necessary.

tinanam01022. In constructing a sentence like this, could 'all with mininal political liberalization' be place at the begining of the sentence, in front of 'China hopes to learn ...'?

No. That can't be done. all refers to the list of all three things, so your reader won't know what all means until after he reads more and finds out what the three things are. That usage of all requires the word all to occur after the list it refers to.

CJ

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi CalifJim,

Thank you for using another way of view to help me see it.

About the second question, I understand what you are explaining. If 'all' were to remove, would this sentence start with 'with' work?

With minimal political liberalization, China hopes to learn from Singapore and Hong Kong on how to eliminate poverty, protect the environment, and raise citizens' per capita income.

Tinanam

CalifJim · Answer

tinanam0102If 'all' were to be removed, ~~would~~ could this sentence start with 'with' ~~work~~?

Yes, you can do that, but it is a little more difficult to understand when you put those words first in the sentence. The verb hope and the verb learn both come near the beginning of the sentence, so the reader thinks that "with minimal political liberalization" should be connected in some way to these verbs. In fact, "with minimal political liberalization" is more connected to the verbs that come near the end of the sentence (eliminate, protect, raise), so it is easier to see the connection when "with minimal political liberalization" is also placed at the end.

Using the same reasoning, you can probably see which of these two sentences is better because it is easier to read from beginning to end without losing your sense of what is meant.

Without using his hands George made several attempts to see if he could ride his bike.
George made several attempts to see if he could ride his bike without using his hands.

CJ

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi CalifJim,

Thanks for your question correction and explanation. I understand the idea now.

Tinanam

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