Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Junkomama]

Is "the spirit of passion" understandable phrase?
Is it possible to use this instead of "an enthusiastic spirit" or just "passion" ?

Thank you in advance!
Junkomama

[CP]

This would be easier to answer if you gave a little more of the text for context. Thank you.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Junkomama]

Hello, CP-san.

The sentence in which I found the phrase is
"We have lost such things as the pure sense of justice or the spirit of passion that people had in those days."

May I ask other questions related to this sentence?

1. If "the spirit of passion" is acceptable, then is it OK to put that-close before "as" ? ("We have lost such things that people had in those days as the pure sense of justice or the spirit of passion.")

2. Is it possible to call such things as "the sense of justice", "the spirit of passion" or "entusiasm" "important/ precious mind"?

Thank you in advance!

Regards,
Junkomama

[CP]

All right, Junkomama, thanks for the full quotation. It's a little easier to see what the writer means.

This writer seems to be saying that back in the good old days, things were better. Back then, people had a sense of justice (they knew right from wrong and wanted right to prevail). Back then, they had passion, real passion, the spirit and essence of passion (they had determination and devotion to ideals that they loved and cherished; they really cared about important things).

Nowadays, we have no true sense of justice, and we have lost our spirit of passion. We don't care about justice, so long as our celebrities are not convicted of crimes and so long as we can get free music over the Internet. We don't have much passion, either; we don't care about much of anything but video games and loud music. It sure was better back in the day!

Your sentence 1 is also perfectly fine. It makes sense and is not misleading. It sounds natural.

I would say that "the spirit of passion" certainly includes enthusiasm and importance. But I am not sure what "precious mind" means.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Junkomama]

Hello, CP-san.
Thank you very much for your particular explanation!!
That helps me a lot!

As for "precious", I may have misunderstood the meaning of the word.
I thought it sometimes has the same meaning that "important" has, but it means "important for someone personally" ?

Regards,
Junkomama