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Interventizio Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Piece of text analysis

I bumped into this comment recently:

"After all, aren't those who do good independently of faith morally better than those who do good just because they imagine that God is observing them and, having been believers for longer than they remember, can’t know whether they would behave the same way hadn’t they got any faith?"

My question is: is there anything wrong with this piece of text?

1) "Do good" sounds to me like it could mean "doing fine" , so perhaps it's at the very least ambiguous, if not incorrect. Is there an alternative?

2) "Can't know" doesn't sound fine to my ear (at least in this context).

3) As for "hadn't they got...", my grammar is a little rusty, but I think this formula can be an alternative to using "if", so it seems ok; can you confirm that?

  

Top answer

1. This phrase makes sense is correct since we are talking about morally "good" actions, not how well or fine an action is being done. 2.

— Prolan Fandialan

  • 1.
  • This phrase makes sense is correct since we are talking about morally "good" actions, not how well or fine an action is being done.
  • 2.
  • Also makes sense, since it is in the present tense.
  • If you replace can't with cannot, doesn't it sound better?
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2 Answers
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1. This phrase makes sense is correct since we are talking about morally "good" actions, not how well or fine an action is being done.

2. Also makes sense, since it is in the present tense. If you replace can't with cannot, doesn't it sound better?

3. This phrase is incorrect. It is using past tense when they are obviously referring to the present. Also, got is used improperly. Thi

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Thank you for the answer.

I think the phrase would be better if we kept things simple:

"After all, aren't those who do good independently of faith morally better than those who do good just because they imagine that *** is observing them and, having been believers for longer than they remember, can’t know if they would have behaved the same way without their faith?"

I

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