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Moon7296 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
interpretation/ sentence structure
This is an experiment carried out by a physicist named Sugata Mitra of NIIT, a New Delhi-based school. His team installed a personal computer with a touch pad and a fast Internet connection near a slum area. They then observed what happened. It was not long before it was discovered by kids. Instead of looting it, the kids mostly six- to twelve-year-old began playing with it. Within a day or two, they had learned and taught one another to drag, create files and folders, perform other tasks, and navigate the Internet. No classroom, no test, no teachers. In three months they created more than a thousand folders, played online games, and developed, what is called, “basic computer literacy.”
Q) Can I interpret the underlined part like this? Is there more than a way to interpret it?
1. they had learned to drag, create files and folders, perform other tasks, and navigate the Internet and taught one another.
2. they had learned and (had) taught to drag, create files and folders, perform other tasks, and navigate the Internet and taught one another.
I think #1 makes sense a lot. They learn first and teach each other. What do you think? Is the phrasing better than the original?
Q) Can I interpret the underlined part like this? Is there more than a way to interpret it?
1. they had learned to drag, create files and folders, perform other tasks, and navigate the Internet and taught one another.
2. they had learned and (had) taught to drag, create files and folders, perform other tasks, and navigate the Internet and taught one another.
I think #1 makes sense a lot. They learn first and teach each other. What do you think? Is the phrasing better than the original?
Top answer
). At minimum (1) needs a comma after "Internet", but to me the ending is still unsatisfactory. (2) suffers from the same problem and also seems repetitious.
- ).
- At minimum (1) needs a comma after "Internet", but to me the ending is still unsatisfactory.
- (2) suffers from the same problem and also seems repetitious.
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3 Answers
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I suppose one assumes that the kids teaching must have first first learnt (by experimentation, trial and error, etc.).
At minimum (1) needs a comma after "Internet", but to me the ending is still unsatisfactory. (2) suffers from the same problem and also seems repetitious.
At minimum (1) needs a comma after "Internet", but to me the ending is still unsatisfactory. (2) suffers from the same problem and also seems repetitious.
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Thank you.
Q1) You don't say like #3 and #4, do you? What I mean is "one another" is solely for the verb "taught," right?
3. I learned him to drag and create files.
4. They had learned one another to drag and create files.
Q2) Can the original be interpreted like #5?
5. Within a day or two, they had learned (first). (Perhaps the underlined to-i
Q1) You don't say like #3 and #4, do you? What I mean is "one another" is solely for the verb "taught," right?
3. I learned him to drag and create files.
4. They had learned one another to drag and create files.
Q2) Can the original be interpreted like #5?
5. Within a day or two, they had learned (first). (Perhaps the underlined to-i
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Right, the interpretation that they had "learned one another" is not possible. You cannot learn someone to do something (well, it is very bad English).
The interpretation is:
Within a day or two...
they had learned to drag, create files and folders, perform other tasks, and navigate the Internet
and...
they had taught one another to drag, creat
The interpretation is:
Within a day or two...
they had learned to drag, create files and folders, perform other tasks, and navigate the Internet
and...
they had taught one another to drag, creat
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