How to find out the parallel of a phrase in Parallel structures ?

Question

in the sentence "The emphasis on data gathered first-hand,combined with a cross-cultural perspective brought to the analysis of cultures past and present,makes this study a unique and distinctly important social science"
Dose "combined" modify "data" or "emphasis"? in another word,does this sentence means "the emphasis and a perspective make this study a social science" or " the importance of data and perspective makes this study a social science"?
How to find out the parallel of a phrase in Parallel structures ?

Thank you !

Avangi · Accepted Answer

"combined with" just means "plus," or "in addition to." The expression serves as a conjunction, and doesn't really modify anything. The two things which are combined are described in some detail, and the descriptions, in a sense, go along with them. If you really want to trim them down to single nouns, "emphasis" is one and "perspective" is the other.

If you truly had a compount subject here (emphasis and perspective) you'd have to use a plural verb "makes." So I guess you'd have to say "emphasis" is the subject of the sentence and "perspective" is an appositive to that subject.

The Lotus, together with the Porsche, makes the race very exciting. Compared with:
The Lotus and the Porsche make the race very exciting.

I suppose you can say that an appositive is parallel to the thing it's in aposition to. I know they're supposed to be grammatically parallel.

I think it's probably not an appositive. The appositive would have to be equal to, not in addition to the other thing. The Lotus, an incredible machine, makes the race very exciting.

In your example, "perspective" is in addition to "emphasis." Even so, these would be the two parallel parts of your construction.

does this sentence means "the emphasis and a perspective make this study a social science" or " the importance of data and perspective makes this study a social science"?

Emphasis and perspective! The prepositional phrase "on the importance of data" is simply a modifier of "emphasis."

I'm sorry. I'm at a loss to explain the relationship between the "emphasis" phrase and the "perspective" phrase. They are obviously not of equal status, else we'd have a plural verb.

Copysnake · Answer

Thank you !

How to find out the parallel of a phrase in Parallel structures ?

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