Preposition question

Question

12. Provincial governments play a big role in the lives of Canadians, ...... primary responsibility ........ health, education and welfare.
A) through / over
B) at / about
C) from / to
D) by / of
E) with / for

I'd like to hear your comments on this question. I'm undecided between A and E. Thanx.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

12. Provincial governments play a big role in the lives of Canadians, ...... primary responsibility ........ health, education and welfare.
A) through / over
B) at / about
C) from / to
D) by / of
E) with / for

E presents the sentence as almost two separate facts. A is a better answer, because the use of 'through' signals that this is how the prov. govts. play the big role.

Another way to look at it is that E is adjectival and A is adverbial.

Bets wishes, Clive

Goodman · Answer

Hi,

Welcome! I think the answer is "c"

Pinenut · Answer

Acacian12. Provincial governments play a big role in the lives of Canadians, ...... primary responsibility ........ health, education and welfare. A) through / over B) at / about C) from / to D) by / of E) with / for I'd like to hear your comments on this question. I'm undecided between A and E. Thanx.

Provincial governments play a big role in the lives of Canadians, with primary responsibility for health, education and welfare. = Provincial governments play a big role in the lives of Canadians, having primary responsibility for health, education and welfare.

Another reason is that 'responsibility for' is a fixed expression.

Acacian · Answer

Dear Clive, Goodman and Pinenut, thank you for your precious comments. I understand what you mean. But for some reason I think as Clive does.

And, though "responsible for" is a fixed expression, I believe "responsibility over" can be used in this context.

And I also guess E would be more plausible if written in the following way.

"Provincial governments, with primary responsibility for health, education and welfare, play a big role in the lives of Canadians."

or
"With primary responsibility for health, education and welfare, provincial governments play a big role in the lives of Canadians."

What do you think?

CalifJim · Answer

The expression is "reponsible for", not "responsible over".
Nobody's going to say "The government is reponsible over education".
Only E works.

CJ

Clive · Answer

Hi,

'responsible over' is certainly beyond the pale.

However, 'responsibility over' sounds fine to me. Google gives 769,000 hits, eg from The Washington Post:

Bush's decision last month to transfer responsibility over postwar Iraq from the Defense Department to the National Security Council was widely seen as a rebuke to Donald Rumsfeld

Best wishes, Clive

CalifJim · Answer

Whoooo! Yipes! Sounds weird to me whether adjective or noun!

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Hi, Clive,

Can I persuade you through an alternate route? Let's set aside "responsibility over". The word "through" is equally problematic in answer A.

The relationship between "playing a role" and "responsibility" is not correctly expressed with "through".

Compare:
understanding life through art : art is a means for understanding life
making friendships through education : education is a way to make friends
learning through technology : technology helps us to learn
to heal through relaxation : relaxation is a means for healing - helps us to heal
understanding our planet through chemistry : chemistry can be used to understand our planet
achieving peace through tourism : by using tourism we can achieve peace
to gain literacy through photography : photography is a means for becoming literate

With:
to play a role through responsibility: responsibility is a way to play a role???? a means for playing a role??? responsibility is used for playing a role?

I think that if "through" is used, it has to take the "by means of" or "used for" definition. What do you think?

I just can't get A to sound right to my ear!

CJ

Clive · Answer

Hi CJ,

12. Provincial governments play a big role in the lives of Canadians, through primary responsibility over health, education and welfare.
A) through / over
E) with / for

As often happens with these things, I'm trying to defend a sentence that is written in a way that I myself would not have written it. I understand your objection. However . . . .

To your thoughts about through, I'd add that it can mean not only 'by means of' but also 'due to' or 'because of'. eg he succeeded through hard work can be taken as 'because of'. It seems to me this is the meaning involved in the sentence we're discussing.

The way I approached this multiple choice question was to first decide that with/for were inadequate. My views may be coloured by the fact that, as a Canadian, I understand the constitutional situation behind this sentence very well. The Federal and provincial govts. are each constantly trying to assert their importance and sphere of control. It certainly is 'because of' these 3 primary responsibilities that the provincial govts. play a big role. I feel that 'with' does not adequately express the importance of these 3 things. It almost makes them sound merely incidental. The prov govts play a big role. Oh, and by the way, they have primary responsibility for these 3 things.

The provinces 'use' these responsibilities to play a big role, they play a big role 'because of' these responsibilities. In my opinion, 'through' expresses that more adequately than 'with' in the given context.

Waddaya think?

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

I see what you mean, but ... hmmm ...

Were it not for that comma before "through", I would find your rationale more persuasive.
I think the comma also makes the responsibilities sound incidental. Therefore the comma is more congruent with "with".

In any case it's not a sentence I'm willing to go to the cross over! We've both given it our best shot, and yet neither of us is completely convinced. I'm ready to move on.

CJ

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