| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Chan-Seung Lee
Joined: 03 Dec 2005
Posts: 1032
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 8:19 am Post subject: Is it correct? |
 |
|
| Quote: |
| The objective of science is to discover uniformities in nature and to formulate these as laws on the basis of which predictions are made. |
Is the above sentence is grammatically correct? I cannot understand the above bold phrase-'on the basis of which'. I think it correct that 'The objective of science is to discover uniformities in nature and to formulate these as laws on the basis of the thing which people make predictions.' But I'm not certain. Please help me!
Thanks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
redset
Joined: 18 Mar 2006
Posts: 582
Location: England
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject: |
|
|
You can rephrase it as two sentences:
The objective of science is to discover uniformities in nature and to formulate these as laws. Predictions are then made based on these laws.
What it's saying is that science aims to discover patterns in nature, and to create laws which seem to describe these patterns. These laws are used as the basis for predictions about future observations. 'Which' in your sentence refers to the laws, so as you said it's talking about the thing on which people make predictions. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Chan-Seung Lee
Joined: 03 Dec 2005
Posts: 1032
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:33 pm Post subject: once again |
|
|
| Quote: |
1. The objective of science is to discover uniformities in nature and to formulate these as laws which predictions are made on the basis of.
2. The objective of science is to discover uniformities in nature and to formulate these as laws of which predictions are made on the basis.
3. The objective of science is to discover uniformities in nature and to formulate these as laws on the basis of which predictions are made. |
Thanks for your kind reply, redset!
According to your explanation I could make the above examples. Are they correct paraphrases? I wonder. Please let me know!
Thanks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
redset
Joined: 18 Mar 2006
Posts: 582
Location: England
|
| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
1) is fine, although some people will complain about you ending a sentence with a preposition!
2) sounds very awkward to me - one of the more linguistically-minded teachers might be able to tell you if it's actually grammatically correct, but I don't think it is. It doesn't read very well anyway.
3) is perfect - that's the original sentence though  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
