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Taka Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

bring into play

0 01font01i00We all, in the first place, matter enormously to ourselves,and will bother about our writing if we feel ourselves to be somehow at stake or on show as we write. We can never, of course, display at any one time the entire complex of characteristics that makes us what we are. Writing of different sorts 01font00brings different parts of our personalities into play:02font00 a job-application will present a different persona from that revealed in a declaration of love, while any subsequent letters of resignation will reflect yet further facets of our elusive essence.02br
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02i00How would you interpret 'bring(s) different parts of our personalities into play' here?02br
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Top answer

0Hi Taka,02br 02br 01i 01font 00We all, in the first place, matter enormously to ourselves,and will bother about our writing if we feel ourselves to be somehow at stake or on show as we write. We can never, of course, display at any one time the entire complex of characteristics that makes us what we are. 02br 02br 00Different kinds of writing require us to use different parts of our personalities in the activity.

— Clive

  • 0Hi Taka,02br 02br 01i 01font 00We all, in the first place, matter enormously to ourselves,and will bother about our writing if we feel ourselves to be somehow at stake or on show as we write.
  • We can never, of course, display at any one time the entire complex of characteristics that makes us what we are.
  • 02br 02br 00Different kinds of writing require us to use different parts of our personalities in the activity.
  • 'In play' also suggests to me that the outcome of this use may be somewhat unpredictable.
  • 02br 02br 00Consider the use of the word 'play', in the sense of activity with an unpredictable outcome, in this famous excerpt from Macaulay's 'Lays of Ancient Rome'.
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10 Answers
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0Hi Taka,02br
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01i01font00We all, in the first place, matter enormously to ourselves,and will bother about our writing if we feel ourselves to be somehow at stake or on show as we write. We can never, of course, display at any one time the entire complex of characteristics that makes us what we are. Writing of different sorts 02font
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0 I thought the sentence meant something like 'Different kinds of writing show different parts of our personalities the existence of which we usually don't really recognize', as such words as 'display', 'present', 'reveal' and 'reflect' are used in the text. Am I wrong?0-
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0I'm curious, Taka, as to what exactly you wish to be interpreted in the quoted phrase, since what follows the colon seems to be an elaboration of the phrase. Is it, as Clive surmises, the meaning of 'into play'?02br
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00EDIT: Oops. I did not see your last post, Taka, before writing my question. I will go back and read it now.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Taka12cite10parts of our personalities the existence of which we usually don't really recognize12br
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10I don't believe it has anything to do with what we do or don't recognize in ourselves, only with what we actively (even knowingly) bring into play--because the particular circumstance calls upon the need
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Davkett12cite10I don't believe it has anything to do with what we do or don't recognize in ourselves, 12br
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00 Then, how about, more simply, ''Different kinds of writing show different parts of our personalities" (actually, the existence-part is not a crucial point of my ques
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Taka12cite10Different kinds of writing show different parts of our personalities12br
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10That is, I think, the essential meaning.0-
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0 Great!02br
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00 Thank you, davkett, and Clive!0-
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0I would take "bring into play" as a metaphor from chess. 02br
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00For instance, if you "bring your knights into play", at chess, you move your knights into the part of the board where the "play" or action is. (You may even create that "play" by the very act of moving your knights there.) 02br
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00Meanwhile, your rooks may still be "out of play", beh
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0 Interesting!02br
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00 I like the way you 01i00sense 02i00the language, MrP!0-
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0 When you "bring (anything) into play", you exercise it, use it, put it to use, you make it become "in effect", "working".02br
00 That would be my interpretation.02br
00 CJ0-
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