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Maple Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
understanding of a long sentence
Randomized trials from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), which studied the effect of improving local control by increasing the extent of surgery or adding radiation therapy after total mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery demonstrated similar survival for the different treatment groups despite substantial improvement in local control with additional surgery and radiation therapy.
Do you think "after total mastectomy" also astricts "increasing the extent of surgery" apart from "adding radiation therapy"?
And paraphrase would be very welcome!
Thank you!
Do you think "after total mastectomy" also astricts "increasing the extent of surgery" apart from "adding radiation therapy"?
And paraphrase would be very welcome!
Thank you!
Top answer
Maple, it's hard to say. They are saying they did A or B after C or D. It could be they meant that they did A after C and did B after D.
- Maple, it's hard to say.
- They are saying they did A or B after C or D.
- It could be they meant that they did A after C and did B after D.
- Or it could be EITHER A or B after EITHER C or D.
- (C, then A; C, then B; D, then A; D, then B) What's confusing is that A=increasing the extent of the surgery while C=total mastectomy.
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5 Answers
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Maple, it's hard to say.
They are saying they did A or B after C or D.
It could be they meant that they did A after C and did B after D.
Or it could be EITHER A or B after EITHER C or D. (C, then A; C, then B; D, then A; D, then B)
What's confusing is that A=increasing the extent of the surgery while C=total mastectomy. How much more could they increase it?
They are saying they did A or B after C or D.
It could be they meant that they did A after C and did B after D.
Or it could be EITHER A or B after EITHER C or D. (C, then A; C, then B; D, then A; D, then B)
What's confusing is that A=increasing the extent of the surgery while C=total mastectomy. How much more could they increase it?
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astricts?
OK, it seems fine. I didn't know about it.
But restricts is the more common one.
OK, it seems fine. I didn't know about it.
But restricts is the more common one.
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This is how the terms are, IMO:
(increasing the extent of surgery)
or
(adding radiation therapy after
(total mastectomy) or (breast-conserving surgery))
(increasing the extent of surgery)
or
(adding radiation therapy after
(total mastectomy) or (breast-conserving surgery))
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Grammar Geek... How much more could they increase it?They can, if they want to, say, to sweep out the lymph nodes, to excise more adjacent tissues...
Thank you GG, and thank you MH for your heuristic opinions! [C][C]
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I feel a comma after "breast-conserving surgery" would improve readability.
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