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Jooney Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Backshift
“From the first day it shipped, we thought — not just me, many of us thought at Apple — that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market, and it was just a matter of the time that it took for that to occur,” Mr. Cook of Apple said recently at a Goldman Sachs investor conference."
Is the part in bold an independent clause? Or is it a subordinate clause within a bigger construction "Not just me, many of us thought at Apple that..."?
I think the latter is a correct assessment of the situation since what's stated in the bold part doesn't make much sense if it is not viewd as a backshift of the following sentence:
Not just me, many of us thought at Apple, "It is just a matter of time that it takes for that to occer."
But one thing that bothers me is that the subordinator that is missing. Shouldn't there be that after the coordinator and to convey the intended meaning?
Not just me, many of us thought at Apple that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market, and that it was just a matter of the time that it took for that to occur.
I'd appreciate your help.
Is the part in bold an independent clause? Or is it a subordinate clause within a bigger construction "Not just me, many of us thought at Apple that..."?
I think the latter is a correct assessment of the situation since what's stated in the bold part doesn't make much sense if it is not viewd as a backshift of the following sentence:
Not just me, many of us thought at Apple, "It is just a matter of time that it takes for that to occer."
But one thing that bothers me is that the subordinator that is missing. Shouldn't there be that after the coordinator and to convey the intended meaning?
Not just me, many of us thought at Apple that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market, and that it was just a matter of the time that it took for that to occur.
I'd appreciate your help.
Top answer
He means that he and others at Apple thought that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market and that it was just a matter of time. Your interpretation is correct. You're also correct in that there really should be a second "that" there.
- He means that he and others at Apple thought that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market and that it was just a matter of time.
- Your interpretation is correct.
- You're also correct in that there really should be a second "that" there.
- But this appears to be reported speech, and as we all know, people hardly ever speak entirely correctly.
- The sentence as a whole is awkward with so many uses of "that"; if he had been writing rather than speaking, he almost certainly would have reworded it.
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2 Answers
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He means that he and others at Apple thought that the tablet market would become larger than the PC market and that it was just a matter of time. Your interpretation is correct. You're also correct in that there really should be a second "that" there. But this appears to be reported speech, and as we all know, people hardly ever speak entirely correctly. The sentence as a whole is awkward with so
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