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Ptrenglish Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

No more... than

Such people who choose to depress are not mentally ill; their brain chemistry is not abnormal. It is changed from what it is when they are happy, but that change is perfectly normal for the total behavior, depressing, they are choosing....The brain chemistry no more causes his depressing than sweating causes running. It is the choice to depress or to run that results in both. - William Glasser

Hello, teachers. Please help me with the italizised sentence. Here there is a "no more...than" syntax that I only vaguely understand: The brain chemistry doesn't cause his depressing and sweating doesn't cause running, either?

Can you explain this syntax a little bit. Is there another way to rewrite the sentence? Thanks a lot.

  

Top answer

ptrenglish The brain chemistry no more causes his depressing than sweating causes running. It is a reduced way of saying: The brain chemistry does not cause his depressing any more than sweating causes running . The comparison is used to emphasise that brain chemistry does not cause his depressing, rather it is the other way round.

— GPY

  • ptrenglish The brain chemistry no more causes his depressing than sweating causes running.
  • It is a reduced way of saying: The brain chemistry does not cause his depressing any more than sweating causes running .
  • The comparison is used to emphasise that brain chemistry does not cause his depressing, rather it is the other way round.
  • "sweating causes running" is obviously false.
  • "brain chemistry causes his depressing" is no more true than "sweating causes running", so it too must be false.
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1 Answers
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ptrenglishThe brain chemistry no more causes his depressing than sweating causes running.

It is a reduced way of saying:

The brain chemistry does not cause his depressing any more than sweating causes running.

The comparison is used to emphasise that brain chemistry does not cause his depressing, rather it is the other way round. "sweatin

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