The 17th century was more closed to 7th century, progresswise,...

No, you can't use 'closed' here.

The 17th century was closer to the 7th century...

Nona the Brit

Yankee wrote:

Hi Jackson Grammatically speaking, your sentence needs the word 'the' in two more places: The 17th century was more closed to the 7th century, progresswise, than it is to the 21st century. However, I don't really understand what you're trying to say.  Can you reword it?

Feebs11 wrote:

Jackson6612 wrote: Is the following sentence correct? The 17th century was more closed to 7th century, progresswise, than it is to 21st century. I would take this to mean that man in the 7th century would not comprehend the behaviour, actions and way of thought in the 17th century, unlike man in the 21st century who can comprehend them. Your change of "more closed" to "closer" now makes less sense.

Contemporary biography is not the same genre at all. My own previous adventure in biography might as well have occurred in a separate universe: another genius, Richard Feynman, lived in our time and left a great, smoldering trail of oral history, videotape and friends with vivid memories. Newton, secretive and withdrawn, lived in a time of isolation and information scarcity. The 17th century was nearer the 7th century than the 20th.

In our digital times, we worry about how easy it is to lose data -- all those ethereal bits and bytes. Indeed, the persistence of ink on paper is a sort of miracle. Newton, having published almost nothing, left an astounding record with his quill pens. His papers were hidden away for centuries and then scattered across the globe, but they survive, and they are mostly accessible.

Feebs11 wrote:

Full context makes all clear. In this extract it is  obvious  - it is comparing and contrasting Richard Feynman and Isaac Newton as scientists. It really is important to make sure that you provide full context for sentences which puzzle you, if they come from a published source.