Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[yoshi-pooh]

Hi, everyone,

This is a part of the speech singer Madonna made in Israel when she visited the country.

�I realise now that it is no more dangerous to be here than it is to be in New York."

Is this sentence the same with the following one in meaning?

"I realise now that it is not more dangerous to be here than it is to be in New York."

Thank you,

yoshi-pooh

[Anuradha Chepur]

Yes.

[zeh88]

I don�t think those two sentences are same. I comprehended those as following:
sentence#1: when you use �no more� it means that it is not dangerous to be in that country as it was before. It is used as "not anymore"

Sentence # 2: when you use �not more�, it means you are comparing that country with the other one. If you use so, it means that New York is more dangerous to be in rather than Israel.
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[CP]

Zeh88 would be right if the sentence with "no more" were a little different, but as written, the two sentences mean the same thing.

For Zeh88's meaning, Madonna might have said, �I realise now that it is no longer more dangerous to be here than it is to be in New York."

That means, "It used to be more dangerous be here than in New York, but no more / not anymore / not now." But what Madonna said, however, actually means the same as Yoshi-Pooh's sentence with "not more" in place of "no more."
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[yoshi-pooh]

Hi, I'm yoshi-pooh

Anuradha, CP and zeh88, thanks for your replies.

Let me ask you again using different examples.

A Kita is no more dangerous than Minami is.
B Kita is not more dangerous than Minami is.

Kita and Minami are not real cities. In these cases, it seems to me that sentences A and B have different meanings.

A sounds like both cities are not dangerous. On the other hand, in B two cities are just compared: both can be dangerous, but the dgree is different.

Thanks,

[lotus]

Hi yoshi-pooh,

Throw out the "is" and your analysis is pretty accurate.

A) Kita is no more dangerous than Minami.
B) Kita is not more dangerous than Minami.

A) Both cities are equally dangerous or safe. In most cases, the implication is that both cities are safe.

B) Comparatively, Kita does not have a danger level that is higher than Minami. The implication is that Kita has a lower danger level than Minami. Therefore, Kita is safer than Minami.


--lotus

[yoshi-pooh]

Hi, everyone

Lotus, thanks for your reply. I'm relieved to know my guess was not wrong. However, this is still a little confusing to me.

Let me go back to my first question. My first question was if there's any differences in meaning between C and D, and Anuradha and CP says they are same. So, if sentences A and B are different in meaning, why are C and D same? Am I missing something important?

A) Kita is no more dangerous than Minami.
B) Kita is not more dangerous than Minami.

C) �I realise now that it is no more dangerous to be here than it is to be in New York."

D) "I realise now that it is not more dangerous to be here than it is to be in New York."


Thank you

yoshi-pooh,

[zeh88]

they both have different meanings as i said before.
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go the last mile_ and enjoy it!

[Anuradha Chepur]

Yoshi, as Lotus points out, having two is-es in the sentence makes the difference.