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Square Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
any sort of/all sorts of
Explanations of animal behavior that leave out any sort of consciousness at all and ascribe actions entirely to instinct leave many questions unanswered. One example of such unexplained behavior: honeybees communicate the sources of nectar to one another by doing a dance in a figure-eight pattern.
This is from a TOELF test.
Is it also OK to rewrite the sentence as follows?
any sort of -> all sorts of
at all is omitted.
Explanations of animal behavior that leave out all sorts of consciousness and ascribe actions...
This is from a TOELF test.
Is it also OK to rewrite the sentence as follows?
any sort of -> all sorts of
at all is omitted.
Explanations of animal behavior that leave out all sorts of consciousness and ascribe actions...
Top answer
I feel that the original is clearer. Your sentence could be read as meaning "leave out many different types of consciousness". "at all" in the original sentence is for emphasis and is not essential to the meaning.
- I feel that the original is clearer.
- Your sentence could be read as meaning "leave out many different types of consciousness".
- "at all" in the original sentence is for emphasis and is not essential to the meaning.
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1 Answers
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I feel that the original is clearer. Your sentence could be read as meaning "leave out many different types of consciousness".
"at all" in the original sentence is for emphasis and is not essential to the meaning.
"at all" in the original sentence is for emphasis and is not essential to the meaning.
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