The exterior walls look fine but inside the building is in ruin.

Question

Hello,please have a look at the sentence:The exterior walls look fine but inside the building is in ruin.- Is this sentence correct? Especially when it comes to punctuation.- Is inside here a preposition?- Would it mean something else if we put inside after building?

Teechr · Accepted Answer

ReegisThe exterior walls look fine, but the inside (of the building) is in ruins.

Reegis- Is this sentence correct, especially when it comes to punctuation?

See above.

Reegis- Would it mean something else if we put inside after building?

The exterior walls look fine, but the building inside is in ruins.
Yes, it would. It would mean that the building is inside those exterior walls; i.e., they would be two separate structures.

Reegis · Answer

Thanks for you answer teechr. I am not sure if I got you right, so let me make sure. You corrected my sentence as follows:

teechrThe exterior walls look fine, but the inside (of the building) is in ruins.

Does it mean that mine was incorrect or only that yours is better?
To be in ruins is an idiom, but can we say to be in ruin?
Your the inside is a noun, but the original inside is (I think) a preposition - could you please say why it was wrong? And can we correctly create this sentence and still use inside as a preposition?

Teechr · Answer

ReegisDoes it mean that mine was incorrect or only that yours is better?

The original sentence doesn't work for me.

ReegisTo be in ruins is an idiom, but can we say to be in ruin?

You can, but "in ruins" is the more usual version.

ReegisYour the inside is a noun, but the original inside is (I think) a preposition - could you please say why it was wrong?

What was inside the building?

ReegisAnd can we correctly create this sentence and still use inside as a preposition?

You can; e.g.,
The exterior walls look fine, but everything else inside the building is in ruins.

Reegis · Answer

teechrWhat was inside the building?

I am not sure what you meant here... Do you mean that the original sentence is ambiguous?

Let me sum up what has been said in this thread:

1a) The exterior walls look fine, but the inside (of the building) is in ruins.
1b) The exterior walls look fine, but everything else inside the building is in ruins.
These sentences mean that there is one building and this building is in ruins inside.

1c) The exterior walls look fine, but the building inside is in ruins.
This sentence means that there are two buildings and the inner one is in ruins.

1d) The exterior walls look fine but inside the building is in ruins.
And here we have the original sentence... Is it wrong because it is ambiguous and might be interpreted as either 1ab or 1c?
If I were to pronounce it, I would say it like this:
1e) The exterior walls look fine - but inside - the building is in ruins.
But I don't know if this changes anything.

Teechr · Answer

ReegisBut I don't know if this changes anything.

It does! It makes it equivalent to 1a. Punctuation is never to be sniffed at.

Reegis · Answer

Now it is crystal clear <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/> Thanks a lot for your time and help!

Teechr · Answer

Great! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

The exterior walls look fine but inside the building is in ruin.

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