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Djustmann Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Difference in meanings
One of my fellow English teachers has asked me to compare two sentences and to explain any differences in meaning.
Sentence number one came from a textbook, sentence number two he wrote himself. I believe that both are correct; however, he has doubts that a sentence following the structure of number two is actually correct.
1. What the company wrongly thinks interests the researchers most is how much they are rewarded.
2. The company wrongly thinks what interests the researchers is how much they are rewarded.
My questions:
Sentence number one came from a textbook, sentence number two he wrote himself. I believe that both are correct; however, he has doubts that a sentence following the structure of number two is actually correct.
1. What the company wrongly thinks interests the researchers most is how much they are rewarded.
2. The company wrongly thinks what interests the researchers is how much they are rewarded.
My questions:
- Is sentence number two grammatically correct?
- Are there subtle differences in meaning between the two sentences?
- Is the "what" in sentence number two used as a relative pronoun?
Top answer
Both are correct. I see no difference in meaning. No, I don't think 'what' is a relative pronoun, since its clause ('what interests the researchers') does not seem to modify 'how much they are rewarded', but vice versa (however, others may not have the same opinion).
- Both are correct.
- I see no difference in meaning.
- No, I don't think 'what' is a relative pronoun, since its clause ('what interests the researchers') does not seem to modify 'how much they are rewarded', but vice versa (however, others may not have the same opinion).
- Note that there can be an optional 'that': The company wrongly thinks (that) what interests the researchers is how much they are rewarded.
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5 Answers
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Both are correct. I see no difference in meaning. No, I don't think 'what' is a relative pronoun, since its clause ('what interests the researchers') does not seem to modify 'how much they are rewarded', but vice versa (however, others may not have the same opinion).
Note that there can be an optional 'that':
The company wrongly thinks (that) what interests the researc
Note that there can be an optional 'that':
The company wrongly thinks (that) what interests the researc
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Hi,
#2 omits the word 'most', which changes the meaning from #1. Is this intentional, or just a typo?
Clive
#2 omits the word 'most', which changes the meaning from #1. Is this intentional, or just a typo?
Clive
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Thank you both.
@ Clive Dropping the most was unintentional. I am sorry about that.
@ Mister Micawber Thank you for your post. Is there a more technical answer which you might be able to attach? My colleague is a stickler for grammar.
@ Clive Dropping the most was unintentional. I am sorry about that.
@ Mister Micawber Thank you for your post. Is there a more technical answer which you might be able to attach? My colleague is a stickler for grammar.
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The antecedent for "they" is ambiguous in both 1 and 2, by the way, and there may be a slight bias toward resolving the ambiguity a different way for each sentence. If I had to guess, I'd say that this slight bias is toward "the company" in 1 and toward "the researchers" in 2.
The what-clause is a fused relative construction in both sentences.
CJ
The what-clause is a fused relative construction in both sentences.
CJ
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Thank you CalifJim; I appreciate your help. I will let my colleague know the additional explanation you have given me.
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