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Taka Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Far away

What role does basic science have in shaping our physical environment ? It is often said that modern basic physical science has so advanced that its problems have little to do with our daily environment. It is interested in nuclear phenomena and in the physics of extreme temperatures. These are objectives relating to cosmic environments, far away from our daily lives.

About 'far away', grammatically, which is it?

(1) a modifier of 'cosmic environments'
(2) a modifier of 'objectives'
(3) a complement (i.e. These are objectives relating to cosmic environments+These are far away from our daily lives)
(4) a reduced adverbial clause
  

Top answer

Taka These are objectives relating to cosmic environments, far away from our daily lives. " "Far away" has an appealing connection to "cosmic," but the cosmos is right here , too. Surely we would have to travel many light years to reach a "cosmic environment"!

— Avangi

  • Taka These are objectives relating to cosmic environments, far away from our daily lives.
  • " "Far away" has an appealing connection to "cosmic," but the cosmos is right here , too.
  • Surely we would have to travel many light years to reach a "cosmic environment"!
  • "Far away" commonly relates to physical distance, but in this case I believe it refers to remoteness of interest.
  • The concerns of cutting edge science are " far removed " from the concerns of the average person.
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9 Answers
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TakaThese are objectives relating to cosmic environments, far away from our daily lives.
In my opinion, it modifies "objectives."
You could argue that it modifies "environments," but "common sense" seems to favor "objectives."

"Far away" has an appealing connection to "cosmic," but the cosmos is right here, too.
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Your choices are not mutually exclusive.

(1) a modifier of 'cosmic environments' - Yes. That's one way to parse it.
(2) a modifier of 'objectives' - Yes. That's another way to parse it.
(3) a complement (i.e. These are objectives relating to cosmic envir
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CalifJim(3) a complement (i.e. These are objectives relating to cosmic environments+These are far away from our daily lives) - Yes. That's another way to parse it. This one is more like (2) than like (1).CJ
If it were a modifier of 'objectives', it would be the same as:

(2') These are objectives relating to cosmic environments, which (environmen
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I took this:

Taka(3) a complement (i.e. These are objectives relating to cosmic environments+These are far away from our daily lives)

to mean:

These are objectives relating to cosmic environments+These objectives are far away from our daily lives

The way you wrote it left the antecedent of "these" after the plus sign ambiguous, I
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TakaAbout 'far away', grammatically, which is it?
Sorry, Taka. I'm afraid I missed the thrust of your question.

But I agree that if you toss out "meaning," all of the first three are possible.

As to whether or not one excludes another, without meaning it seems to come down to a question of grammatical definition.

I'm thinking at thi
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You don't have to be sorry, Avangi. In fact, I thought your analysis was very plausible.
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I suppose grammatically, you must consider the antecedents of "these," X & Y; phenomena and physics.
These are far away. This could be the main clause.

These are far away from our daily lives, objectives relating to cosmic environments.

Now "objectives" becomes the complement, and the participial phrase is of course adjectival.
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If we follow the closest-comes-first rule taking the semantics into account, I think the answer you posted first is plausible enough, so don't worry, Avangi.
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Thanks. Actually, worrying is fun! Emotion: nodding - A.

Funny thing, I had just come off a thread where the proximity rule got turn
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