How to paraphrase the two sentences?

Question

We're asked to paraphrase the two sentences. I'm not satisfied with my own. Ask for help.
1. Today the British drink more tea than any other nation. The British like tea most in the world.
2. The British drink an average of 4 kilos tea a head yearly. Each British drink 4 kilos of tea a year.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

On 20 Dec 2003 18:25:20 -0800, Frank Fang (Email Removed) wrote, in part:
[nq:1]We're asked to paraphrase the two sentences. I'm not satisfied with my own. Ask for help. 1. Today the British drink more tea than any other nation. The British like tea most in the world.[/nq]
The latter, besides being stilted, is also not saying the same thing as the former. The latter indicates preference; the former, the rate of consumption. Also, although both sentences are in the present tense, only the former implies that the statement was false at one point. The first sentence is good as it stands; I'm not sure why you'd want to paraphrase it. If you do want to, though, there are many ways to do so. Just make sure that the semantic content of the sentence stays the same; compose a sentence with that in mind, and then get ack to us on aue for a critique.
[nq:1]2. The British drink an average of 4 kilos tea a head yearly. Each British drink 4 kilos of tea a year.[/nq]
Semantic problems here too: The original sentence speaks about an average, and your paraphrase does not. Try again. (Again, there are many paraphrases possible; for a nice turn of phrase, you can try "per capita" or "perannum" (but not both in the same sentence that sounds awful, to my ears at least).)
Hth. Best of luck.
Michael Hamm Since mid-September of 2003, AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis I've been erasing too much UBE. (Email Removed) Of a reply, then, if you have been cheated, http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ Likely your mail's by mistake been deleted.

Usenet · Answer

Actually, this is a kind of exercise called "say it in another way", just like listening exercise in TOEFL, or in some writing training. Since you say "there are many ways to do so", would you mind saying one or two? Thanks and best wishes.
Frank Fang

Usenet · Answer

(Email Removed) (Frank Fang) wrote on 21 Dec 2003:
[nq:1]Actually, this is a kind of exercise called "say it in another way", just like listening exercise in TOEFL, or ... "there are many ways to do so", would you mind saying one or two? Thanks and best wishes. Frank Fang[/nq]
As Mr Hamm said, there are many ways of paraphrasing each sentence. Here are some examples.
[nq:1]1. Today the British drink more tea than any other nation. The British like tea most in the world.[/nq]
I take it that the second sentence is your paraphrase. It doesn't mean the same as the first. You might try putting it into the negative, but the first sentence is actually not correct as it stands: "the British" is not a nation, so that would have to be changed to "Great Britain" or "the UK" or some other appropriate moniker.
No nation drinks more tea than Great Britain currently does.
2. The British drink an average of 4 kilos tea a head yearly. Each British drink 4 kilos of tea a year.
Once again, the second sentence does not say what the first does. There is a significant difference between what "the average Briton" drinks and what "each Briton" drinks. The "average Briton" is an abstraction and does not exist, but "each Briton" refers to every citizen of the UK, and they are very real. What the average Briton drinks is a generalization that may or may not be true for any particular Briton. Some real Britons will drink much less than 4 kios of tea and some will drink much more.
The annual per-capita consumption of tea by the British is 4 kilos.
I have one other question about this second example sentence you provided. I must assume that the "4 kilos of tea a head yearly" refers to 4,000 grams (8.8 US pounds) of tea leaves in loose or bag form and not to 4,000 liters (1000+ US gallons) of the liquid. I may be wrong, but whatever the 4 kilos refers to is not clear.

The sentences really need to be made clear. One cannot drink tea leaves, but one may consume them.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]1. Today the British drink more tea than any other nation.[/nq]
To me this form of the comparative, exemplified above, and so much in use, falls short of correctness and precision.
The meaning is that the British drink more tea than they drink any other nation, an absurdity in that it compares tea with nations.

I would correct it to: "... the British drink more tea than does any other nation" or, better yet, "... the British drink more tea than do people of other nations".
Bob G

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]1. Today the British drink more tea than any other nation.[/nq]
[nq:1] To me this form of the comparative, exemplified above, and so much in use, falls short of correctness ... than does any other nation" or, better yet, "... the British drink more tea than do people of other nations".[/nq]
This, of course, is not true. One needs a 'per capita', or similar, in there. Even then, Ireland is a more likely contender.

m.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I would correct it to: "... the British drink more ... British drink more tea than do people of other nations".[/nq]
[nq:1]This, of course, is not true. One needs a 'per capita', or similar, in there. Even then, Ireland is a more likely contender.[/nq]
But Georgia takes the biscuit.

Mickwick

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]We're asked to paraphrase the two sentences. I'm not satisfied with my own. Ask for help. 1. Today the British drink more tea than any other nation**. The British like tea most in the world.[/nq]
"Brits are the world's #1 tea-guzzlers."
** ? I'm sure more tea is drunk in India.
[nq:1]2. The British drink** an average of 4 kilos tea a head yearly. Each British drink 4 kilos of tea a year.[/nq]
"Your average Brit downs nine pounds of tea in a year."

** ? 4 kilos liquid is only 16 cups.
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"Brits are the world's #1 tea-guzzlers." ** ? I'm sure more tea is drunk in India.[/nq]
No the Irish are top, the Brits second. Per capita consumption in India is around a quarter of ours.
http://www.woe.edu.pl/1999/6 99/teatime.html
Matti

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]"Brits are the world's #1 tea-guzzlers." ** ? I'm sure more tea is drunk in India.[/nq]
[nq:1]No [/nq]
Yes.
Mr Fang's original sentence used the word "nation"; that's what I was querying.
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]"Brits are the world's #1 tea-guzzlers." ** ? I'm sure more tea is drunk in India.[/nq]
[nq:1]No the Irish are top, the Brits second. Per capita consumption in India is around a quarter of ours. http://www.woe.edu.pl/1999/6 99/teatime.html[/nq]
Up to a point, Mr Lamprhey.
I suspect that this 'Irish drink the most tea' thing is one of those Web factoids we hear so much about - oft repeated, seldom supported, popular simply because it confounds a stereotype. I can find no hard figures to back it up, and the soft figures I've found suggest a steady consumption of about two and a half kilos per person per year.

Peanuts!
In the early 1990s, the Georgians drank more than 9 kilos of (dry) tea per person per year.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/X2588E.htm
Because of various social, political and economic problems (you may have read about them), this consumption fell to about 4 kilos per person per year by 1998, and I can't find any later figures.
Nonetheless, in my book the Georgians are still the world's champion tea-drinkers. I mean, what is a Georgian if not a tea-drinker? Take that away from them and what is left? Who are they? Just people with moustaches, that's all, and the world is full of people with moustaches. We must help Georgia retain its identity. We must never forget that they drink a lot of tea.
Thank you.

Mickwick
Paddy go home. The kettle's on, the exhortatory
tea towel is on the wall, Ma is up from her midday nap, and the telly is tuned to the Bee Bee Cee.

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