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Hi, I came accross a sentence that I can't understand. Anybody can help me to understand the exact and understandable meaning of the following sentence?

"No student of social matters can escape feeling how precarious is the existence of that with which he deals."

Avangi · Accepted Answer

VinceKImNo student of social matters can escape feeling how precarious is the existence of that with which he deals.

I'm afraid it's not much of a sentence.

"Social matters" would mean different things to different people. The "social sciences" have various branches, so you need to check the context in which your sentence appears.

Are we talking about a "student" who is enrolled in a formal college course in some branch of sociology, or are we talking about some guy who happens to be interested in how people interact with each other. Eg., "I am a student of human nature!"

When the existence of something is "precarious," it's built on a very weak foundation, and it's in danger of collapsing and disappering.

So if you're a student of this stuff, one of the things you quickly learn is that you're dealing with a very slippery subject. The thing you're dealing with can be very elusive - hard to pin down.

But the sentence is not very clear about which thing is precarious. Is it some social situation, or is it the student's attempt to analyze that situation?

Dimsumexpress · Answer

The correct sturcture is: ".....How precarious the existence is..."

Anyhow, not only is this a poorly written sentence, it is also not making any sense.

CalifJim · Answer

VinceKIm~~Anybody can~~ Can anybody help me to understand the exact and understandable meaning of the following sentence?

No student of social matters can escape feeling how precarious is the existence of that with which he deals.

Without more context, it may be impossible to get an exact meaning, but we should be able to make it understandable.

1. social matters: Let's presume for now that this vague term means things that have to do with how people interact with one another or how they behave toward one another, in other words, interactions between people.

2. student of social matters: a person who studies or observes how people interact.

3. that with which he deals: that with which the student of social matters deals. A student of physics deals with physics; a student of biology deals with biology. So a student of social matters deals with social matters. Social matters are "that with which he deals". This whole phrase can be replaced by "social matters". ... how precarious is the existence of social matters.

4. No student of ... can escape feeling ... : Every student of ... must feel ...;
Anyone who studies (social matters / how people interact) must have the intuitive thought ...

5. how precarious is the existence of ...: the great degree to which the existence of ... is precarious; the great degree to which the existence of ... is dependent on uncertain premises.

Putting these together:

Anyone who studies the ways that people interact must certainly feel that the subject he studies is dependent to a great degree on uncertain premises.

Or, possibly,

Those who study the ways the people interact must wonder if they really have anything to study that can be treated with scientific rigor.

(There are probably 20 different ways to phrase it, but hopefully this gives you something to think about.)

CJ

VinceKIm · Answer

Thank you very much!

I didn't expect that I would get these wonderful explanations.

Those are very helpful.

And still I have one thing that I'd like to know.

One of you mentioned that there is a problem with the order of the sentence.

He or She said that it should be like this; No students of social matters can escape feeling how precarious the existence of that with which he deals is.

Please, tell me it is right.

And I'd like to thank again!

Avangi · Answer

VinceKIm No students of social matters can escape feeling how precarious the existence of that with which he deals is.

VinceKIm "No student of social matters can escape feeling how precarious is the existence of that with which he deals."

Both are correct.
In my opinion, the second is by far the less awkward of the two.

VinceKIm · Answer

Thank you very much, Avangi.

But, we have learned that the clause with who, what, how,,, ect should be like this;

I don't know what he is doing.

However, we cannot say,"I don't know what is he doing."

Would you give me a lecture about this?

Avangi · Answer

I'm afraid I can't quote you the rules.
"How" seems to be allowed in the question order, even when it's a statement.
Perhaps it's only allowed when it's describing a quality.

With a short sentence, it's usually an exclamation:
How lovely is your dress! (How lovely your dress is!)

It's also common in poetry:
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace.
(Maybe that's an exclamation too! ??)

Let me ponder this a bit more.

It seems to work best when the quality being described is quite lengthy:
You won't believe how long is the flight from here to Boston, when you have to stop over in Chicago and also in New York.
(Don't put the "is" at the end!)
Well, I guess there are several other places where you could put it. Bad example!

"The existence of that with which he deals" is difficult enough without interrupting it with a verb.

CalifJim · Answer

VinceKImNo students of social matters can escape feeling how precarious the existence of that with which he deals is.

This is technically correct, but the author judged (correctly, I think) that the order should be changed because there are so many words between the subject (existence) and verb (is) of that clause. Similarly:

He asked what the problem was. Correct.
He asked what was the problem. Not completely correct, and not really very idiomatic.

He asked what the problem that everybody had so much trouble with yesterday was. Technically correct, but awkward.
He asked what was the problem that everybody had so much trouble with yesterday. Acceptable movement of elements to avoid such a large and awkward gap between subject and verb.

CJ

VinceKIm · Answer

I've made myself fully understood. Thank you very much, Avangi and CJ.

You two are awesome teachers!

Everytime I have problems with my poor English, I'll use this site and hope I will be able to

get your great answers.

Thank you very much, and take care of yourself!

Vince.

Avangi · Answer

Not wishing to steal anyone's thunder, I'd like to ask CJ if this license applies only in connection with a certain category of "question-word-type" adverbs, and a certain class of verbs.

I asked him how was done the great art work which appears high above the worshippers, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

This doesn't seem to fly - does it?

As you might guess, I'm not looking for a better version.

- A.

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