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Ant_222 Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Help with a sentence

Hi all,

Could you please help me understand the structure of the following sentence: «I mean, man can put up with only so much without he descends a rung or two on the old evolutionary ladder»? I just don't get the funtion of this "without he descends" part. I would have no questions if it was "without (him) descending..."

Thank you in advance,
Anton
  

Top answer

You are right. Without is a preposition and thus the gerund without descending is required. Leave out him.

— Cool Breeze

  • You are right.
  • Without is a preposition and thus the gerund without descending is required.
  • Leave out him.
  • CB
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6 Answers
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You are right. Without is a preposition and thus the gerund without descending is required. Leave out him.
CB
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Thank you, CB.
Is the original phrase some kind of slang? It doesn't seem to be a typographical mistake, it's present in all sources...
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Ant_222Is the original phrase some kind of slang? It doesn't seem to be a typographical mistake, it's present in all sources...

I don't know about that. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. A native speaker may know the answer to that question.
CB
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Would be interesting to hear from a native...
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Yes, it's a sort of slang without really being slang. It goes together stylistically with "I mean" and "the old (evolutionary ladder)", and, to a certain extent, "put up with only so much". I suspect that constructions like "without he descends" originally came from literal translations from other languages. Yiddish comes to mind here, but I don't guarantee that is the real source.
CJ
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Thanks you, CJ. At first, this sentence seemded to me a senseless helter-skelter of phrases, and now I even understand it!
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