Given

Question

What does given mean in the  following sentence please?Given this method there is no reason to use another method.I think it should mean something like this: Since we have that method (or while this method has been given to us) and it's fine and sufficient, so there is no reason to use another method.Is my thought correct?

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Given has no meaning for me in your sentence.

CB

Khoshtip · Answer

But I see that word very much in computer books. For example please read the first line of first paragraph of page below.

http://books.google.com/books?id=We21AwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=programming%20principle%20and%20practice&pg=PA603#v=onepage&q&f=true

Cool Breeze · Answer

khoshtipFor example please read the first line of first paragraph of page below.

I have read it and I don't understand it. On the other hand, there are quite a few other things I don't understand in the passage you have quoted. It was not written by a native speaker.

CB

Khoshtip · Answer

Yes the author is not a native speaker. He is Danish. And the book is about C++ programming. But he has been the Prof of many universities in the U.S for many years. He is a great scientist. It's his webpage:
www.Stroustrup.com
All of my books are in English. Here is another book about computer networking. But this time, its author is an American. He is Jim Kurose. This is his webpage:
http://www-net.cs.umass.edu/personnel/kurose.html

Now about the odd word given:
This quote is from page number 1 of the book Computer Networking A Top-Down Approach 6th edition:

Given that the Internet is so large and has so many diverse components and uses, is there any hope of understanding how it works?

And the following is another part of that book. Page number 5:

Given the importance of protocols to the Internet, it’s important that everyone
agree on what each and every protocol does, so that people can create systems and
products that interoperate.

Is the meaning of word given still vague?

Cool Breeze · Answer

khoshtipIs the meaning of word given still vague?

No.

giv·en, v.
1. pp. of give.
–adj.
2. stated, fixed, or specified: at a given time.
3. addicted or disposed (often fol. by to): given to making snide remarks.
4. bestowed as a gift; conferred.
5. assigned as a basis of calculation, reasoning, etc.: Given A and B, C follows.
6. Math. known or independently determined: a given magnitude.
7. (on official documents) executed and delivered as of the date shown.
–n.
8. an established fact, condition, factor, etc.
RHUD

CB

Khoshtip · Answer

I appreciate your helps.
It seems that, the red line is the answer of my first question, in your standpoint.
Can we also mean it to "with existing/having" in that question please?

Fivejedjon · Answer

khoshtipGiven this method there is no reason to use another method.

Back to the first.

I'd be happy with Given the availability of this method there is no reason to use another method.

Khoshtip · Answer

It's very amazing for me why those authors have used a word that not only for non-native but also for native Englis persons, is not clear.

Khoshtip · Answer

I asked Mr. Stroustrup the question;

I: "Do you believe that even native English persons had difficulty in understanding it?"
He: "They should not have any problem with that if they have passed high school."

Then I asked about the meaning of that word, given.
I: "I thought it should mean something like, 'with having/existing', but I'm not sure. Furthermore, you have chosen that word frequently in the contexts. What do you mean by that word in that page please?"
He:"Given X" means "if we have X" or "Assuming we have X"
I: And does that word have same meaning in all places it has been used?
He: The construct "Given X" always means that.

Cool Breeze · Answer

If one is an expert in computer programming, it doesn't necessarily mean that he is an expert in English as well—even if he is a native speaker. From the point of lucidity of presentation, it would be advisable to have someone with expert knowledge of both computers and the English language to proofread one's books. This would inevitably cost a lot of money, and a person may choose to avoid this and bask in the glory of having done all the work himself, even if some of the language is all Greek to everybody except the writer.

Given

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions