Hi,
Could you please explain this sentence to me
"It couldn't have come at a worse time, in the sense that with business investment weakening, and with the housing market, at least in activity terms, having turned, that's where the timing is unfortunate for us"
Does this complicated sentence simply mean: It is the worst time now because the business investment is weakening and the housing market becomes less active than ever before? Yes, basically.
Could you please tell me more about the use of " it couldn't have come at a worse time", I just guess the meaning of this phrase according to the context, I don't understand it thoroughly. Consider this simpler example.
Last week, I bought a new house and a new car, and my wife had twins. This morning, my boss told me that I was fired. The news could not have come at a worse time.
Could I replace " in the sense that" with " in the aspects of " or " in the fact that"? No. 'In the sense of' is used to tell the reader that you are going to explain the meaning of what has been said. You could say 'I mean that . . . ' or 'because of the fact that . . . '
And why the author used "where' in this sentence? He means 'That's the place/point/situation in which . . '
eg Mary wants me to marry her. She's beautiful. She's rich. But I don't love her. That's where the problem is.
Best wishes, Clive