What does the sentence mean?

Question

Hi,
I don't know what this clause mean," Coffee is a social beverage, offered to guests by housewivees and to customers by merchants; to refuse it borders upon inslut." There must have some connection between these two clauses, but I am not sure what it means? Also why there is no conjuection before "offered"? What kind of sentence joining is this? Is this the extra infomation so we can write anything between two punctuations?

Thanks,

Ryan

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I don't know what this clause mean," Coffee is a social beverage, offered to guests by housewivees and to customers by merchants; to refuse it borders upon inslut." There must have some connection between these two clauses, but I am not sure what it means? Also why there is no conjuection before "offered"? What kind of sentence joining is this? Is this the extra infomation so we can write anything between two punctuations?

I'm not sure if you are asking about meaning or about punctuation.

Normally two sentences are separated by a period. A semi-colon shows that there is a close connection in menaing. But each of the two parts had to be in the form of a separate sentence.

So, you could write it like this.

Coffee is a social beverage, offered to guests by housewives and to customers by merchants.

To refuse it (ie coffee) borders upon insult. This means 'To refuse an offer of coffee is close to an insult'.

Clive

Clee62 · Answer

Thanks for your anwers.

I both don't know the meaning and the punctuation. But still i am not sure why they are grammatically correct.

First, "Coffee is a social beverage, offered to guests by housewivees and to customers by merchants." Is offered a past participal or something? why can it connect with another independent clause without a coordinating conjunction? Could you give me another example with the same usage?

Also, about " To refuse it (ie coffee) borders upon insult ", is the sentence missing a subject? I know we can say," To retire early, we need to work hard." Could you give me another example where we say it this way?

Could you tell me is there any specific terms to call this sentence structure and the last one, so I can look up in some grammar books.

Do we use "the last one" to mean the previous one? Will people be confused it with the final one or the one after the first one?

Thanks again,

Ryan

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I both don't know the meaning and the punctuation. But still i am not sure why they are grammatically correct.

First, "Coffee is a social beverage, offered to guests by housewivees and to customers by merchants." Is offered a past participal or something? Yes, used as an adjective.

Here's a simpler example for you to consider.

I bought a house, painted red.

why can it connect with another independent clause without a coordinating conjunction?

If it helps , you can think of it this way. I bought a house, (that was) painted red.

Could you give me another example with the same usage?

Also, about " To refuse it (ie coffee) borders upon insult ", is the sentence missing a subject? I know we can say," To retire early, we need to work hard." Could you give me another example where we say it this way?

The infinitive can serve as a noun phrase.

eg To dance is difficult.

eg Refusal borders on insult.

eg To refuse it borders on insult.

eg To know all is to forgive all. (famous quotation)

eg To err is human; to forgive (is) divine. (famous quotation)

Could you tell me is there any specific terms to call this sentence structure and the last one, so I can look up in some grammar books.

Do we use "the last one" to mean the previous one? Will people be confused it with the final one or the one after the first one? You've only got two, so it's not hard to understand what you mean. I usually write 'the previous one'.

Clive

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