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Janewantslearn Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Please help me understand this sentence.

The production of meaning, of symbols, and their material expression *is* complex.

I think this sentence means "The production of meaning", "The production of symbols", "and their material expression", all three of them are complex, then should the writer use "are" instead of "is"? Or my understanding is completely wrong?

And I also want to confirm a usage: the verb should be plural if there are two subjects, even if the two subjects are non-countable, like "my mind and your mind are same" (sorry, I don't know if this is a good example).

Thanks.
  

Top answer

I don't see that the sentence is correctly structured. It seems that "is" is intended to agree with "production", but it doesn't quite work. The following would work (at least in terms of sentence structure; though I couldn't say for sure that it is semantically what the author is trying to say): The production of meaning, and of symbols and their material expression, is complex.

— GPY

  • I don't see that the sentence is correctly structured.
  • It seems that "is" is intended to agree with "production", but it doesn't quite work.
  • The following would work (at least in terms of sentence structure; though I couldn't say for sure that it is semantically what the author is trying to say): The production of meaning, and of symbols and their material expression, is complex.
  • janewantslearn And I also want to confirm a usage: the verb should be plural if there are two subjects, even if the two subjects are non-countable, like "my mind and your mind are same" (sorry, I don't know if this is a good example).
  • Right: My mind and your mind are the same.
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4 Answers
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I don't see that the sentence is correctly structured. It seems that "is" is intended to agree with "production", but it doesn't quite work. The following would work (at least in terms of sentence structure; though I couldn't say for sure that it is semantically what the author is trying to say):

The production of meaning, and of symbols and their material expression, is complex.
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Hi GPY,

Thank you for answering my question.
The production of meaning, and of symbols and their material expression, is complex.
I agree your correction, now the sentence seems simple to me.

I still want to confirm one thing. In the sentence above, if all things refer to "the production", then the verb should be single, right?
So I can't rewrite the s
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janewantslearnSo I can't rewrite the sentence as "The production of meaning, and the production of symbols and their material expression are complex", right? (I mean only from sentence structure, regardless the meaning,)
The production of X and the production of Y are ...
The production of X and (of) Y is ...

In the fir
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Hi GPY,
The production of X and the production of Y are ...
The production of X and (of) Y is ...
I get it now. Thank you very much!
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