0
Park sang joon Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Analyses of a text.
The federal government is overstepping its bounds with the aggressive "Click It or Ticket" program that requires all motorists to wear their seatbelts or pay hefty fines. Whether or not you wear your seatbelt is not the business of the government. The choice to wear a seatbelt is an individual one, and every American should be able to decide not to wear a seatbelt if he or she so desires. Seatbelt use is really every citizen's personal decision, and the government should not make that decisions for us, as though we were children incapable of making the right choices for ourselves. We must put a stop to the random searches at checkpoints because buckling up is our choice and no else's.
1. I'd like to know if before "pay," to is implied.
2. I'd like to know how "so" modifies the verb "desires."
3. I think the author should have used not "as though" but "even if."
I'd like to know what you think about this.
Thank you in advance for your help.
1. I'd like to know if before "pay," to is implied.
2. I'd like to know how "so" modifies the verb "desires."
3. I think the author should have used not "as though" but "even if."
I'd like to know what you think about this.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
1. Yes, though in practice it seems unnecessary to include it. 2.
- 1.
- Yes, though in practice it seems unnecessary to include it.
- 2.
- , in full, "every American should be able to decide not to wear a seatbelt if he or she desires not to wear a seatbelt".
- 3.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
5 Answers
0
1. Yes, though in practice it seems unnecessary to include it.
2. "so" means "in the way just described", i.e., in full, "every American should be able to decide not to wear a seatbelt if he or she desires not to wear a seatbelt".
3. No.
2. "so" means "in the way just described", i.e., in full, "every American should be able to decide not to wear a seatbelt if he or she desires not to wear a seatbelt".
3. No.
00
Thank you, GPY, for your very helpful answer. 
2. Then, I was wondering why "so" is positioned before "desires", not after.
2. Then, I was wondering why "so" is positioned before "desires", not after.
00
2. "desires so" is not impossible, but the original word order is a standard wording pattern used with certain verbs: "if he/she/etc. so desires/wishes/chooses/requires/etc."
3. "were" is not past tense but unreal tense (we are not actually children).
3. "were" is not past tense but unreal tense (we are not actually children).
00
Thank you, GPY, for your continuing support.
Then, I'd like to know if "as though" expresses the conditional two.
Then, I'd like to know if "as though" expresses the conditional two.
00
You mean so-called second conditional? "as though" = "as if", expressing an imagined or counterfactual situation, in this example in the present. I guess this is the same idea as the so-called "second conditional", but whether grammar books actually refer to "as though / as if" by that label, I'm not sure.
0
Related Questions