CONSIDERATE

Question

Dear Teachers,1. That restaurant is always full. I'm sure that its food must be very good and its method of serving is very considerate.- Is this sentence ok to say?Thanks very much to Teachers, Stevenukd.

BW2/3 · Accepted Answer

Can 'considerate' be the predicate of 'method of serving'?

I am not sure it is a good idea.

CalifJim · Answer

The sentences are not exactly wrong, but the second one is somewhat unidiomatic.

I would replace its, using the.

That restaurant is always full. I'm sure that the food must be very good and the method of serving is very considerate.

Concerning the method of serving being considerate, this won't work because people are considerate, not methods. I would say that the servers are considerate, or courteous, or friendly.

That restaurant is always full. I'm sure that the food must be very good and the servers are very considerate.

Optionally, and for a last tweak to this passage, I would decide between these ideas: I'm sure that it is good or It must be good. Together you have a very slight contradiction -- or is it something redundant? Either you are sure or you are deducing from some knowledge that it must be so. It's slightly strange to be sure of something and to deduce it at the same time. Suppose we choose must be. In that case we need it in both clauses:

That restaurant is always full. The food must be very good and the servers must be very considerate.

But in this kind of parallel structure we can more nicely express the ideas by leaving out must be the second time:

That restaurant is always full. The food must be very good and the servers very considerate.

The alternate version can also leave out the verb in the second clause:

That restaurant is always full. I'm sure that the food is very good and the servers very considerate.

Note that this alternate version leaves out the idea of deducing the situation in the second sentence from the information given in the first.

CJ

CONSIDERATE

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