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Lucas21c Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Does this sentence sound natural

His oratory was lost on other's incomprehension of his spoken English in the halls of the United Nations and the chancelleries of the world.
  

Top answer

No. Say eg His oratory was wasted due to others' incomprehension of his spoken English in the halls of the United Nations and the chancelleries of the world. But basically the sentence is still excessively formal, and stilted.

— Clive

  • No.
  • Say eg His oratory was wasted due to others' incomprehension of his spoken English in the halls of the United Nations and the chancelleries of the world.
  • But basically the sentence is still excessively formal, and stilted.
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5 Answers
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No.
Say eg His oratory was wasted due to others' incomprehension of his spoken English in the halls of the United Nations and the chancelleries of the world.

But basically the sentence is still excessively formal, and stilted.
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What makes you feel like that?
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As far as I know, the idiom, "be lost on," must link to 'somebody.' However, the 'other' incomprehension' is not a person. That's why I posted this question. Also, you might confirm what I said, here,

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/be-lost-on-sb?q=be+
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Some words are very formal - oratory, others (as used here), incomprehension, halls, chancelleries.

It's hard to describe 'tone', but it seems somehow needlessly elaborate. Perhaps it might sound better with more context.

Clive
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As far as I know, the idiom, "be lost on," must link to 'somebody,' but the 'other' incomprehension' is not a person

If you look again, you will see I changed the phrase to others' incomprehension. This means the incomprehension of other people.

I also change
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