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Taka Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

To MrP: any of the other

0 The sentences: 01blockquote
00 When we consider how it is that music can express emotion-11del10the question of what makes it possible for music to be sad, anguished, joyous and so forth12del10-a sort of intellectual darkness descends on us. For, in describing a piece of music in such terms, it is not meant that on listening to it we have become sad or anguished or joyous, nor that the composer had such feelings and intended to communicate them by musical means. In grasping what music express we do not characteristically take up 11b10 any of the other 12b10 attitudes which are the usual corollaries of having an emotion, but the emotion that music express is nevertheless in some sense felt, rather than merely known of. 12blockquote
12br
02br
02br
00Why 'any of 01b00 the other 02b00 attitudes' ? Why not simply 'the attitudes' or 'any attitudes'? 0-
  

Top answer

0 Hello Taka 02br 02br 00I would interpret this as follows: 02br 02br 001. g. emotion A.

— MrPedantic

  • 0 Hello Taka 02br 02br 00I would interpret this as follows: 02br 02br 001.
  • g.
  • emotion A.
  • 02br 002.
  • Usually, emotion A has the natural accompaniments X, Y, Z.
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12 Answers
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0 Hello Taka 02br
02br
00I would interpret this as follows: 02br
02br
001. Music can express emotions, e.g. emotion A. 02br
002. Usually, emotion A has the natural accompaniments X, Y, Z. 02br
003. But when we understand that a piece of music expresses emotion A, we do not mean that that emotion was accompanied by X, Y, Z. 02br
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0
0 01blockquote
00 I would agree that 'other' is a mistake. 12blockquote
12br
02br
00OK. 02br
02br
00By the way, could you elaborate this? I'm afraid I don't really understand it. 02br
01blockquote
00 a) X, Y, Z are attitudes; 12br
10b) Emotion A, which they accompany, is also an att
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0 Hello Taka 02br
01blockquote
00...any of the other attitudes which are the usual corollaries of having an emotion...12blockquote
12br
02br
00a) X, Y, Z are attitudes (i.e. 'the other attitudes which are the usual corollaries of having an emotion'). 02br
02br
00b) Emotion A ] i.e. the emotion referred to in 'havi
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0 Sorry, MrP, but I'm still a bit confused. 02br
02br
00Your use of brackets like this: 02br
01blockquote
00 b) Emotion A ] i.e. the emotion referred to in 'having an emotion' 12br
12br
10which they ] i.e. X, Y, Z, which are the 'usual corollaries' 12br
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10accompany, is also an attitude ] 'also an attitu
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0 Taka, you're absolutely right. It's the most confusing post I've ever read. Let me try again: 02br
01blockquote
00...any of the other attitudes which are the usual corollaries of having an emotion...12blockquote
12br
02br
00Call the emotion mentioned here 'A'. 02hr
02br
00"The writer says that A is usually accom
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0 Could you please explain why this: 02br
01blockquote
00 In context, however, the only referent for W is emotion A. 12blockquote
12br
02br
00leads to this conclusion: 02br
01blockquote
00 So the writer seems to think that emotion A 11b10 both 12b10 has accompanying attitudes, i.e. XY
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0 1. By saying 'any of the other attitudes', the writer is distinguishing those 'attitudes' from some other 'attitude'. 02br
02br
002. As far as I can see, however, there is nothing in the context which would fit the description 'some other attitude', except the 'emotion' to which the writer refers. 02br
02br
003. The writer has already stated that this 'e
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0 If he/she mentioned somewhere in his/her writing some sort of 'listening attitude' which was independent of having an emotion, then do you think it would make sense? 0-
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0 Hello Taka 02br
02br
00Even then, I would struggle to make sense of the sentence as it stands, since a 'listening attitude' is not a 'usual corollary' of 'having an emotion': 02br
02br
00'In grasping what music express(es) we do not characteristically take up any of the other attitudes which are the usual corollaries of having an emotion...' 02br
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0 01blockquote
00 Even then, I would struggle to make sense of the sentence as it stands, since a 'listening attitude' is not a 'usual corollary' of 'having an emotion' 12blockquote
12br
02br
00A-ha! You're right! 02br
01blockquote
00 Out of interest, where did you find this extract? 12blockquote
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