The code of conduct

Question

As Juanita argued, this new code of conduct is laughable; its principles are either----, offering no wisdom but the obvious, or are so devoid of specific advice as to make almost any action----.
A. irresolute.. unlikely
B. corroborative.. redundant
C. platitudinous.. justifiable
D. homogeneous.. impartial
E. labyrinthine.. unacceptable

Since its principles offer no wisdom but the obvious, the word for the first blank should be any derogatory terms. Then I eliminated "B. cooroborative", "D, homogenesous", "E. labyrinthine".

I was left with A, C.

Since the principles are devoid of specific advice, they make any action justifiable? -- It is illogical.

Eventually I was left with A.

But, THE ANSWER IS C!!!! *shocking smiley!*

Thank you in advance.

Rvw · Accepted Answer

Platitudinous essentially means "offering no wisdom but the obvious". (Dictionary.com has for platitudinous: dull and tiresome but with pretensions of significance or originality.)

Regarding justifiable, the topic of the sentence is a new code of conduct. If that code has no specific advice about how one is to behave, how does one know what is acceptable behavior? Suppose the code is actually a set of driving regulations, but all it says about speed is that one shall not drive so as to obstruct the flow of traffic. (That is the de facto speed limit where I live.) One could then justify his or her driving at 200 kph by referring to the code.

Jeff_999 · Answer

Thank you Rvw. Very clear!

But you missed my point. I was confused with this part:

"are so devoid of specific advice as to make almost any action ___".

"To make almost any action ____" is to explain "specific advice" or "devoid of specific advice"? Please explain it in the grammatical way.

Thank you once again.

Savvysavz · Answer

It means the advices are too ambiguous and hence cannot make the action justifiable.

Rvw · Answer

To analyze it grammatically, I extract just the part in question:

Its principles are so devoid of specific advice as to make almost any action justifiable.

Devoid is an adjectival subjective complement of principles. Its principles are what? Devoid. How devoid is answered by the adverb phrase so ... as to make almost any action justifiable. It is analogous to saying It principles are very grossly lacking, where lacking takes the place of devoid, and very grossly takes the place of so ... as to make almost any action justifiable.

The adverb phrase so ... as to make almost any action justifiable functions as a unit, modifying devoid. In more detail:

so: an adverb modifying devoid
of specific advice: an adverbial prepositional phrase modifying devoid
as: a conjuction introducing the adverbial verbal phrase to make almost any action justifiable. This phrase modifies so.
to make: an infinitive verbal
almost any action: adverb, modifying adjective, modifying the noun object (action) of to make
justifiable: an adjectival objective complement of action

(Perhaps others would like to offer different analyses.)

Jeff_999 · Answer

The adverb phrase so ... as to make almost any action justifiable functions as a unit, modifying devoid.

Thanks so much for your patience and the detailed explanation.

Okay, now let's see it this way:

"Its principles are so devoid (of specific advice) as to make action justifiable."

Could it be rephrased as

" Its priniciples are too devoid to make action justifiable." -- (This is logical.)

Or

"Its principles are so devoid that they make action justifiable." -- (Illogical.)

Which statement of the above two do you think is right?

Rvw · Answer

Devoid means completely lacking; destitute; empty; without. Used with of. ---American Heritage Dictionary. Since it is used with of, we need to keep the whole phrase --- devoid of specific advice. This could also be worded: completely lacking in specific advice; or just empty, ambiguous, or nebulous.

To keep the original meaning, we also need the whole phrase almost any action. The point being made is that, with an ambiguous, nebulous code of conduct, almost anything is permissible; very little is prohibited.

To be grammatically correct and semantically faithful to the original, I would reword your sentences as follows:

Its principles are so devoid of specific advice as to make almost any action justifiable.
(Alternatively: Its principles are so empty/ambiguous/nebulous as to make almost any action justifiable.)

Its principles are too devoid of specific advice to prohibit many actions.
(Or: Its principles are too empty/ambiguous/nebulous to prohibit many actions.)

Its principles are so devoid of specific advice that they make almost any action justifiable.
(Or: Its principle are so empty/ambiguous/nebulous that they make almost any action justifiable.)

Jeff_999 · Answer

with an ambiguous, nebulous code of conduct, almost anything is permissible; very little is prohibited.

Oh, yes! Thank you, Rvw! You know what, I couldn't find "Its principles are so devoid of specific advice as to make almost any action justifiable" logically right, because I misinterpreted it as,
"With an ambiguous, nebulous code of conduct (or no specific advice to tell us what to do, or what not to do), the principles can't make our almost any action justifiable.(Actually principles devoid of specific advice do in fact make any action justifiable.)" Then it contradicted my knowledge that:
"so ... as to" should be equal to "so ... that", instead of "too ... to".

It's me who makes the things complicated. Now it's clear, Rvw. Thank you.

Rvw · Answer

I am very pleased that I could help.

p.s.

An English professor I contacted half-jokingly characterized the so...as to construction as idiopathic.

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