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Jooney Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
"while" and "come with"
Hi,
Welcome to the brave new world of Massive Open Online Courses — known as MOOCs — a tool for democratizing higher education. While the vast potential of free online courses has excited theoretical interest for decades, in the past few months hundreds of thousands of motivated students around the world who lack access to elite universities have been embracing them as a path toward sophisticated skills and high-paying jobs, without paying tuition or collecting a college degree. And in what some see as a threat to traditional institutions, several of these courses now come with an informal credential (though that, in most cases, will not be free).
(taken from The New York Times)
First of all, I'm having a little difficulty understanding the meaning behind the following subordinate clause:
While the vast potential of free online courses has excited theoretical interest for decades,...
It seems to mean that people have been interested in making courses of prestigious universities available online for free so that they've been pondering various theoretical approahes to implementing this.
Q1) Am I right about this? I'm especially interested in knowing what "theoretical interest" means here.
Q2) Does the while have a temporal meaning here? Or was it used in the sense of whereas? I'm not really sure about this.
Q3) The preposition phrase "without paying tuition..." is a modifier of the preceding noun phrase "a path toward sophisticated...", correct?
A comes with B. This means that A is produced or sold with B. So when you buy A, you get to have B as part of the deal.
Q4) Then, what does "A comes with B in C" mean?
where
A corresponds to several of these courses
B corresponds to an informal credential
C corresponds to what some see as a threat to traditional institutions
I'd appreciate your help. Thank you.
Welcome to the brave new world of Massive Open Online Courses — known as MOOCs — a tool for democratizing higher education. While the vast potential of free online courses has excited theoretical interest for decades, in the past few months hundreds of thousands of motivated students around the world who lack access to elite universities have been embracing them as a path toward sophisticated skills and high-paying jobs, without paying tuition or collecting a college degree. And in what some see as a threat to traditional institutions, several of these courses now come with an informal credential (though that, in most cases, will not be free).
(taken from The New York Times)
First of all, I'm having a little difficulty understanding the meaning behind the following subordinate clause:
While the vast potential of free online courses has excited theoretical interest for decades,...
It seems to mean that people have been interested in making courses of prestigious universities available online for free so that they've been pondering various theoretical approahes to implementing this.
Q1) Am I right about this? I'm especially interested in knowing what "theoretical interest" means here.
Q2) Does the while have a temporal meaning here? Or was it used in the sense of whereas? I'm not really sure about this.
Q3) The preposition phrase "without paying tuition..." is a modifier of the preceding noun phrase "a path toward sophisticated...", correct?
A comes with B. This means that A is produced or sold with B. So when you buy A, you get to have B as part of the deal.
Q4) Then, what does "A comes with B in C" mean?
where
A corresponds to several of these courses
B corresponds to an informal credential
C corresponds to what some see as a threat to traditional institutions
I'd appreciate your help. Thank you.
Top answer
jooney Q1) Am I right about this? I'm especially interested in knowing what "theoretical interest" means here. To me, theoretical is a contrast with " practical " The technology has not been practical until recently, but researchers (eg in the subject of education), have been intrigued with its possibilities.
- jooney Q1) Am I right about this?
- I'm especially interested in knowing what "theoretical interest" means here.
- To me, theoretical is a contrast with " practical " The technology has not been practical until recently, but researchers (eg in the subject of education), have been intrigued with its possibilities.
- jooney Q2) Does the while have a temporal meaning here?
- Or was it used in the sense of whereas?
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4 Answers
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jooneyQ1) Am I right about this? I'm especially interested in knowing what "theoretical interest" means here.To me, theoretical is a contrast with "practical" The technology has not been practical until recently, but researchers (eg in the subject of education), have been intrigued with its possibilities.
jooneyQ2) Does t
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Thank you for the reply, Astars.
I would read it as Although.
Q1) Could you please explain why you think that it was used in that sense?
It better accompanies "students".
Q2) What's the difference in meaning between the
I would read it as Although.
Q1) Could you please explain why you think that it was used in that sense?
It better accompanies "students".
Q2) What's the difference in meaning between the
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jooneyQ1) Could you please explain why you think that it was used in that sense?Because there is a contrast between the theoretical (interest) what is actually happening. The writer's intent was not to express two activities that happened simultaneously, but to contrast them.
jooneyQ2) What's the difference in meaning between the follo
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