Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Poker]

"In his opinion, the absence of a realistic alternative to fossil fuels will mean, amongst other things, that the first priority will recognize its significance."

How do I explain the bolded part to my korean teachers? Please help me.

They want to add "be to" between 'will' and 'recognize'. I want to explain that the original should stay as is, but they can't understand the meaning of the bolded part.

[CentralCali]

I'm a native English speaker and I have the same inclination as your Korean teachers. Omitting "be to" from that sentence changes the meaning to priority as the agent of the verb recognize.

[Poker]

A number of scientists are emphasizing the tremendous challenges that will soon be posed when the fossil fuel supplies are exhausted. Although there seems to be a general acceptance that the era of fossil fuels is coming to an end, there is a wide spread thought resting on the assumption that the experts will come up with a technological remedy making for a completely pain-free transition. Scientists such as Walter Youngquist argue that this assumption may be mistaken and that the remaining resources might only support half of the current global population. In his opinion, the absence of a realistic alternative to fossil fuels will mean, amongst other things, that the first priority will recognize its significance.

This is the full text.

[tatertot]

The bolded part doesn't make sense to me, either. I, too, am a native English speaker.

[DejaVu]

The way it is written implies that the fossil fuel will recognize its own significance.

I'm not sure this is possible unless you are poetically personifying fossil fuel.

^^^ This is under the assumption that the "first priority" being referred to is fossil fuel. ^^^

[The Cosmic Hum]

[transmogrifier]

That sentence makes no sense as it stands, grammatically or logically.

If you add "be to" between "will" and "recognize", it makes grammatical sense, but the logical reasoning is weird, because "its" can only refer to "absence of fossil fuel alternatives", so your first priority, upon discovering this fact, is to recognize the significance of this fact?

I think the the problem is that "priority" implies a course of action towards a goal, but the word "recognize" is a passive realization, not something you can work towards (you either recognize something or you don't).

If you changed "recognize" to "investigate" or something like that, along with the "be to" addition, then the sentence will make sense.

[T-J]

Looks to me as though the original includes 'be to'. What's the source of your 'original' OP? The one I found is here.


http://www.fullspate.net/ecpe-practice-reading-test-3.html

[Poker]

In his opinion, he thinks that once the fossil fuels have been depleted, it is likely the world could only then identify the next realistic alternative material based on the most pressing energy related issue faced by a society without fossil fuels. The first source of material that prevents an energy crisis post fossil fuels will be recognized as the next viable energy source for mankind.

That is what I think he is trying to say. If 'be to' is added, the meaning changes to something else. It is poorly constructed but I feel the meaning is still there. Maybe it only looked acceptable to me based on my own interpretation, not sure, lol.

High school English textbook that the Korean teachers use.

[CentralCali]

Poker:

Take a moment and diagram the following sentence:

The first priority will recognize its significance.

Do you see how priority is the agent of the verb recognize in that particular sentence?

Now diagram the following sentence:

The first priority will be to recognize its significance.

In this sentence, there is no agent as be is the verb, a copula. In this case, priority is described.

The first sentence does not make sense. The second sentence does.

[Poker]

Problem solved, thanks for the explanations and the link of the original! I understand it now.

Really appreciate the help given here!