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Rubenadriaan Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

How should I interpret this?

What is meant with the part in bold do you think? I do not know whether the imaginary emphasis is on 'could' or elsewhere:

But even with the evidence we do have, there are many more things that could be said than we have space to discuss. Historians inevitably decide which things can or should be said.

It would be awesome if anyone can help Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

Hi Ruben; I'm not sure what part of the sentence troubles you. To keep it simple, let's remove the first clause. There are many more things that could be said than we have space to discuss.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Hi Ruben; I'm not sure what part of the sentence troubles you.
  • To keep it simple, let's remove the first clause.
  • There are many more things that could be said than we have space to discuss.
  • Here is a loose paraphrase: We (I assume a historian is writing this) have many things to say, and we could say them, but there is not enough space for everything.
  • So we have to make choices about what we say and what we don't say.
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2 Answers
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Hi Ruben;

I'm not sure what part of the sentence troubles you. To keep it simple, let's remove the first clause.

There are many more things that could be said than we have space to discuss.

Here is a loose paraphrase: We (I assume a historian is writing this) have many things to say, and we could say them, but there is not enough space for everything. So we
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RubenadriaanI do not know whether the imaginary emphasis is on 'could' or elsewhere:
I don't think there is any emphasis on "could", imaginary or real, (or elsewhere).

... things that could be said ... ~ ... things that it would be possible to say ...

CJ
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