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NL888 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Does "take out higher debts" mean "borrow money"?
Context:
FACTS can be stubborn - and irritating. It is satisfying—perhaps even gratifying—to accept the idea that genetically modified crops are causing thousands of Indian farmers to commit suicide (as this article claims). The notion seems plausible: farmers take out higher debts on the promise that GM seeds will be a bonanza and then lose everything when the harvest fails. There is genuine distress: farmers are indeed killing themselves. Their cause has been adopted by high-profile campaigners such as Britain’s Prince Charles and India’s Vandana Shiva, who blames the spate of deaths on Monsanto, an American biotech firm. There have been blockbuster films, such as “Summer 2007”; the rural-affairs editor of The Hindu, a newspaper, won an international press award for his writing on the subject. The farmers' deaths played a part in the recommendation by a panel of India's Supreme Court to impose a 10-year moratorium on field trials of GM crops in the country.
FACTS can be stubborn - and irritating. It is satisfying—perhaps even gratifying—to accept the idea that genetically modified crops are causing thousands of Indian farmers to commit suicide (as this article claims). The notion seems plausible: farmers take out higher debts on the promise that GM seeds will be a bonanza and then lose everything when the harvest fails. There is genuine distress: farmers are indeed killing themselves. Their cause has been adopted by high-profile campaigners such as Britain’s Prince Charles and India’s Vandana Shiva, who blames the spate of deaths on Monsanto, an American biotech firm. There have been blockbuster films, such as “Summer 2007”; the rural-affairs editor of The Hindu, a newspaper, won an international press award for his writing on the subject. The farmers' deaths played a part in the recommendation by a panel of India's Supreme Court to impose a 10-year moratorium on field trials of GM crops in the country.
Top answer
Yes, But the idiomatic expression is 'take on higher debts'. Clive
- Yes, But the idiomatic expression is 'take on higher debts'.
- Clive
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8 Answers
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Thanks.
In the same context, does "Their cause has been adopted" mean "Their death cause has been believed"?
In the same context, does "Their cause has been adopted" mean "Their death cause has been believed"?
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NL888:In the same context, does "Their cause has been adopted" mean "Their death cause has been believe.
The farmers' cause is what they passionately believe , ie that genetically modified crops are a bad thing.
Other people (eg Prince Charles) have now accepted this belief.
The farmers' cause is what they passionately believe , ie that genetically modified crops are a bad thing.
Other people (eg Prince Charles) have now accepted this belief.
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Thanks.
But "what they passionately believe" sounds positive to me, while "their cause" also positively refers to "believing a good thing and taking action to achieve the goal". Now in the case of GM crops, the cause looks bad to them.
So I'm still not clear about the meaning of "their cause", not surely knowing where it sounds good or bad here.
First, they (the farmers) bel
But "what they passionately believe" sounds positive to me, while "their cause" also positively refers to "believing a good thing and taking action to achieve the goal". Now in the case of GM crops, the cause looks bad to them.
So I'm still not clear about the meaning of "their cause", not surely knowing where it sounds good or bad here.
First, they (the farmers) bel
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But "what they passionately believe" sounds positive to me, while "their cause" also positively refers to "believing a good thing and taking action to achieve the goal". Now in the case of GM crops, the cause looks bad to them.
So I'm still not clear about the meaning of "their cause", not surely knowing where it sounds good or bad here.
First, they (the farmers) believed their caus
So I'm still not clear about the meaning of "their cause", not surely knowing where it sounds good or bad here.
First, they (the farmers) believed their caus
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Excellent.
Does "the people listed" refer to Britain’s Prince Charles and India’s Vandana Shiva?
Does "the people listed" refer to Britain’s Prince Charles and India’s Vandana Shiva?
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Their cause has been adopted by high-profile campaigners such as Britain’s Prince Charles and India’s Vandana Shiva,
Such as is phrase that introduces examples.
Such as is phrase that introduces examples.
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