Remain

Question

Hi.May I rephrase"Whether body morphology or biological factors better explain the relationship between pubertal development and DBD remains to be tested."as"Whether body morphology or biological factors better explain the relationship between pubertal development and DBD must be tested."?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Not really.
It implies that this should be tested, but stresses also that it has not yet been tested.

Clive

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

No, that's not exactly the same.
REMAINS TO BE just means HAS NOT YET BEEN.
The first sentence is saying that the TASK of TESTING and DETERMINING whether body morphology or biological factors better explain the relationship between pubertal development and DBD HAS NOT YET BEEN PERFORMED, i.e. that task REMAINS, on the list of tasks that would have to be performed, or done, because it hasn't been done yet. The task REMAINS TO BE performed.
This doesn't necessarily mean that the task MUST be done, either immediately or ever. You could replace REMAINS TO BE TESTED with WOULD NEED TO BE TESTED, i.e. if you want the answer, you would need to do the testing, but the first sentence does NOT imply that the testing MUST be done; it only implies that the testing HAS NOT YET been done, and WOULD NEED TO BE done to determine the answer.

Soheil1 · Answer

Ok. What about "...still must be tested"?

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

No. MUST implies NECESSITY. That statement doesn't say the testing is NECESSARY, it just says it hasn't yet been done. If you want to know the answer to the question (whether body morphology or biological factors better explain the connection between etc etc etc), you WOULD need to do the tests. It doesn't say that the tests are NECESSARY or NEEDED; they would only be necessary or needed IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE ANSWER.

Remain

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