Scornful of

Question

Morning, everyone.I wish all of us would have a wonderful time ahead in this week.Could you tell me the meaning of the latest part of the sentence?1. He was scornful of such female activities as cooking.Could I rephrase the sentence into2. He was scornful of female activities such as cooking.Thank you.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Could you tell me the meaning of the latest part of the sentence?

1. He was scornful of such female activities as cooking.

This would usually be taken to mean that he was scornfiul of all female activities.

But if you want to split hairs, you could argue that it means he was scornful of female activities that are similar to cooking (eg planning meals?) but not scornful of female activities that are not similar to cooking (eg running marathons).

Could I rephrase the sentence into

2. He was scornful of female activities such as cooking.

No. This more clearly has the secod meaning that I mentioned above.

But note this.

He was scornful of female activities, such as cooking.

The added comma makes this mean that he was scornful of all female activities.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, Clive.

Avangi · Answer

Anonymous1. He was scornful of such female activities as cooking.
Could I rephrase the sentence into
2. He was scornful of female activities such as cooking.

To my ear, your rephrasing shifts the focus of the sentence to an alarming degree, changing the meaning.
In other grammatically parallel situations, that would not be true. I'm not sure I can explain it.

In the original example, he seems to look down on housework, especially if he might have to do it.

By placing "female activities" first, I get the sense that he doesn't want to be around when women are doing their thing, whatever it might be. Offering the example of "cooking" doesn't counteract that sense - for me, anyway.

Edit. I concur with what Clive has said.

Scornful of

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