where is the problem?

Question

In a word, we should choose more smart ways to solve the air pollution, but not close[?] down factories.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

"Close down" = phrasal verb - put out of business

The government closed his business down because he hadn't paid his taxes.

Coco le · Answer

Thanks. So there is no problem with "...should do, but not do...", not even the use of comma? I used "do" to represent a verb.

Clive · Answer

in a word It's not clear to me what word, if any, this phrase refers to.

more smart Say 'smarter'.

solve It's more precise to say eliminate air pollution Or solve the air pollution problem..

Finally, I'd flip the two parts of the sentence. It will flow more logically. 'Smarter' will have something to refer back to..

Briefly put, instead of closing down factories, we should choose smarter ways to eliminate air pollution..

Clive

AlpheccaStars · Answer

I assumed you were asking about "close" and not about anything else in the sentence.
Be clear when you ask a question.

Coco le · Answer

Thanks to you all who responded. Yes, I am wondering here in the sentence, "but" as a conjunction connects which parts of sentence. That is, does "but" connect "to solve..." with "not 'to'(the omission of which I think is an error) close", or does "but" connect "choose ..." with "not close...". That is what I trying to figure out.

As for "more smart ways", could we regard "more" as modifying "ways" instead of "smart".

As for precision,are you talking about "solve air pollution" is correct but not precise?

Thanks

AlpheccaStars · Answer

In a word, we should choose ~~more~~ smarter ways to reduce the air pollution, but not close down the factories.

You have a compound verb here. But is a coordinating conjunction, joining elements of equal importance.
We should choose ..., but (we should) not close ....

What comes after the verbs (choose, close) does not affect the conjunction "but."

coco leAs for "more smart ways", could we regard "more" as modifying "ways" instead of "smart".

No.

coco leAs for precision,are you talking about "solve air pollution" is correct but not precise?

You have two ideas here: air pollution and factories.

If you use "the", then you mean specific air pollution and specific factories. We assume the pollution comes from the factories, not automobiles or cows.

In a word, we should choose smarter ways to reduce the air pollution, but not close down the factories.

If you omit "the", then you are talking about all air pollution (from trucks, factories, burning brush, bar-b-que grills, cows), and all factories.

In a word, we should choose smarter ways to reduce air pollution, but not close down factories.

Coco le · Answer

coco leAs for "more smart ways", could we regard "more" as modifying "ways" instead of "smart".

No.

why?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

coco lewhy?

Because English is a position-sensitive language.

When one word comes immediately before another, and it is a logical collocation, then we naturally read the first word as modifying the second word, not the third word.

Coco le · Answer

So in order to specify or avoid ambiguity, people would add other determiners before such as "other" "many" to indicate "more" is modifying "ways"? like many more smart ways? I do believe here the writer wants to modify ways instead of "smart", though I agree the writer should use "smarter" instead.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

We should try as many smart ways as possible...
We should try many different smart ways ..
We should choose several smart ways ...

where is the problem?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions