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Hi,Can you find any mistakes in the below text? How good writers of English do you think the authors of this text are?In ancient Greece, the great mathematician Pythagoras (c. 500 BC) and his followers taught that music and arithmetic were not separate. As the understanding of the numbers was thought to be the key to the understanding of the whole spiritual and physical universe, so the system of musical sounds and rhythms, being ordered by numbers, was thought to exemplify the harmony of the cosmos and correspond to it.In our Western thought, we usually see every great work of art as having two meanings, one of them contemporary, one of them historical. When we approach Michelangelo's Last Judgement or Bach's St. Matthew Passion, we often forget the history, for the works communicate directly with us in terms of our own thoughts and feelings. In other words, the work of art has contemporary significance.Music is especially contemporary in significance because it is a thing which exists only in sound, a complex phenomenon of tone combinations organized by a rhytmic pattern in time rather than in space. Yet, even a quick look at some historical periods of music can help us understand some of their specific features.Source: English Update 6, Kallela, Kangaspunta, Lindroth, Suurpää, Erma, Nikkanen, Woods, Söderström & Co Förlags, 2003.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I think they are excellent.

Do you think you have found mistakes in this?

Best wishes, Clive

Englishuser · Answer

Hi Clive,

What an interesting question you're asking me. No, I think the authors and the copy-editors have done a good job. But then again, a person like you could always improve a text. You even made changes in a text which was written by Nadine Gordimer, who has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, so who knows, perhaps the authors of this text have left some room for improvement, too.

Let me know what you think,

Englishuser

MrPedantic · Answer

Apart from the typo, I find three things I would change:

In ancient Greece, the great mathematician Pythagoras (c. 500 BC) and his followers taught that music and arithmetic were not separate. As the understanding of the numbers was thought to be the key to the understanding of the whole spiritual and physical universe, so the system of musical sounds and rhythms, being ordered by numbers, was thought to exemplify the harmony of the cosmos and correspond to it.

In ~~our~~ Western thought, we usually see every great work of art as having two meanings, one of them contemporary, one of them historical. When we approach Michelangelo's Last Judgement or Bach's St. Matthew Passion, we often forget the history, for the works communicate directly with us in terms of our own thoughts and feelings. In other words, the work of art has contemporary significance.

Music is especially contemporary in significance because it is a thing which exists only in sound, a complex phenomenon of tone combinations organized by a rhytmic pattern in time rather than in space. Yet, even a quick look at some historical periods of music can help us understand some of their specific features.

MrP

Nona the brit · Answer

EU,

There is a big difference between 'mistakes' and differences in style. Ask a million people to write about the same topic with the same information and you'll probably get a million different versions.

Englishuser · Answer

Hi MrPedantic,

I'm afraid I'm responsible for the typo, not the original authors. It'd be nice to know what copy-editors Woods and Nikkanen would think about you finding faults in a text they have copy-edited and proofread.

Englishuser

Englishuser · Answer

Hi nona the brit,

You wrote:

There is a big difference between 'mistakes' and differences in style. Ask a million people to write about the same topic with the same information and you'll probably get a million different versions.

I totally agree with you. But I find it strange that a language forum moderator who works as an ESL teacher is able to improve a text written by a Nobel Prize winner. Of course, an ESL teacher can be (and usually is) a very good writer. Yet, it goes without saying that famous novelists normally write very well, and that their texts rarely require further editing.

Englishuser

MrPedantic · Answer

Englishuser
Hi MrPedantic,

I'm afraid I'm responsible for the typo, not the original authors. It'd be nice to know what copy-editors Woods and Nikkanen would think about you finding faults in a text they have copy-edited and proofread.

Englishuser

Copy-editing and proof-reading is not always performed as comprehensively as it might be. Otherwise, we would never find any mistakes in copy-edited, proof-read texts.

I don't blame the harassed, underpaid, often bewildered copy-editors, of course. They do the best they can.

MrP

MrPedantic · Answer

EnglishuserHi nona the brit,

You wrote:
There is a big difference between 'mistakes' and differences in style. Ask a million people to write about the same topic with the same information and you'll probably get a million different versions.
I totally agree with you. But I find it strange that a language forum moderator who works as an ESL teacher is able to improve a text written by a Nobel Prize winner. Of course, an ESL teacher can be (and usually is) a very good writer. Yet, it goes without saying that famous novelists normally write very well, and that their texts rarely require further editing.

Englishuser

"...et idem/indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus..."

(Though I doubt very much whether the novelist in question would class herself with Homer.)

MrP

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