Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

"would remain" should be "woul not remain" in light of meaning?

As if it isn't enough that computers have influenced just about every area of our lives, you'd think that something as sacred as the English language would remain immune to technology's pressures.
_________________
Hiromichi

[pugachevV]

No, it is correct as written. Would remain immune to technology's pressures means, that it would not be affected by technology

[hiromichi]

pugachevV, I do not understand. What does "as if it is not enough" mean?
_________________
Hiromichi

[pugachevV]

It has rained for three days straight - as if that is not enough it's supposed to rain again tomorrow.
He's eaten half my food and drunk all of my beer - as if that's not enough he's flirting with my girlfriend now.

As if that's not enough is a way of complaining about something - in this case it is technology, which the author thinks is affecting our lives too much. He is now dismayed to find it is also affecting the English language.

[hiromichi]

The writer says "English language would remain immune to technology's pressures" , which means the technology will not affect the language.
If instead of "you'd think", "you'd doubt" is used, it is logical to me.
_________________
Hiromichi

[redset]

To me the sentence in the first post sounds very awkward; 'as if it isn't enough' is used to say that things are worse than expected, or that something has gone too far. 'As if it isn't enough that (something has happened), (even more things have happened)'

'As if it isn't enough that you ate all the cookies, now you're drinking all the milk as well!'

What the writer is really trying to say is: 'As if it isn't enough that computers have influenced just about every area of their lives, (now they're causing changes in the English language)', but also saying 'you'd think that something as sacred as the English language would remain immune to technology's pressures'. It probably helps to look at the sentence in two parts - the first part just implies that things have gone beyond just influencing just about every area of our lives, and the second part implies that the English language hasn't remained immune (even though you'd think it would). I think a semi-colon would work better than a comma here, to keep the two ideas more distinct.

[hiromichi]

redsetm Thank you very much. You hit a point which I really wanted to know. Now I can understand logically.
_________________
Hiromichi