An odd sentence

Question

“As for its brain,sarmientosaurus,bless its heart,was not the sharpest tooth in the jaw.”
I can not understand the grammar of the sentence.Too many commas.What is the subject of “was”?
please rewrite the sentence without commas and explain the meaning.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

greatsageI cannot understand the grammar of the sentence.

"cannot" is always one word.

The grammar is simple once you remove the less necessary words:

Sarmientosaurus was not the sharpest tooth in the jaw.

The structure is exactly the same as

Jack was not the tallest boy in the class.

Does it make sense now?
__________

I suspect it is not really the grammar that is puzzling you.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

greatsageexplain the meaning

Sarmientosaurus had a small brain.

The author uses several techniques to say this in an amusing way.

For example, "bless (someone's) heart", as an interjection in a sentence, shows mild condescension mixed with the acceptance of a minor fault, as in Carla, bless her heart, isn't very smart, bless her heart. The parallel is Sarmientosaurus, bless its heart, had a small brain.

Also, the pronoun-determiner "its" is introduced before the noun it refers to. The structure As for its brain, sarmientosaurus is a way of saying the brain of sarmientosaurus.

And then there is the use of a structure in American English which is currently popular for saying that someone is not very smart. The pattern represented abstractly is not the ...est X in the Y. But this is easier to see through examples:

He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
He's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier.
He's not the fastest ship in the fleet.

The author has invented a parallel that is more appropriate for his field of study: ... not the sharpest tooth in the jaw.
_______________

So you see that it takes a great deal of cultural knowledge in addition to grammatical knowledge to understand some sentences.

CJ

Cool Breeze · Answer

CalifJim"cannot" is always one word.

That's what I think, too. However, there is another opinion:
—Usage. CANNOT is sometimes also spelled CAN NOT. The one-word spelling is by far the more common: Interest rates simply cannot continue at their present level. The contraction CAN'T is most common in speech and informal writing.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary

CB

CalifJim · Answer

Cool BreezeHowever, there is another opinion

Indeed, but we don't mention wrong opinions because it risks confusing the students.

CJ

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