re: Need Comments? page 2
(1) Without a computer, a lot of people nowadays feel uneasy, irritated, which is a symptom of addiction.
(2) With their computer disconnected, a lot of people nowadays feel uneasy, irritated, which is a symptom of addiction.
(3 ) Without using a computer, a lot of people nowadays feel uneasy, irritated, which is a symptom of addiction.
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(3) is the sentence written by a friend of mine, and he is asking me if it works. IMO, (3) is weird but I cannot explain well why; it just doesn't feel right.
Well, maybe I'm wrong and there is nothing wrong in the sentence (3) . If so, then that's fine.
Could anybody tell me if it works or not, and if not, then why?
(2) With their computer disconnected, a lot of people nowadays feel uneasy, irritated, which is a symptom of addiction.
(3 ) Without using a computer, a lot of people nowadays feel uneasy, irritated, which is a symptom of addiction.
------
(3) is the sentence written by a friend of mine, and he is asking me if it works. IMO, (3) is weird but I cannot explain well why; it just doesn't feel right.
Well, maybe I'm wrong and there is nothing wrong in the sentence (3) . If so, then that's fine.
Could anybody tell me if it works or not, and if not, then why?
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Comments (Page 2)
I just wanted to tell you that
Who's Jim? Because your comments? I don't get them.
Thanks for listening [
In the case of "without using X, we Y-ed" the connotation is that we would normally use X to help us to do Y.
"Without using a computer, a lot of people feel uneasy ...." does not seem to me to mean the same thing as "If they don't use a computer, a lot of people feel uneasy." The first is strange somehow and the second one makes more sense. Here's why:
"Without using a computer ..." is closer to "Without using a computer to help them (to feel uneasy)
"If they don't use a computer ... " is closer to "If (or when) they don't have the use of (or access to) a computer, a lot of people feel uneasy ...." or "If they lack (access to) a computer, ...." or "Without a computer ..." = "Lacking a computer ..."
True, there is an alternate reading of "without using a computer" which is, as you say, "If they don't use a computer", but this is not the interpretation that comes to mind first upon reading the sentence.
Well, after reading your reply, now I'm wonderingwhat exactly it is that makes "without ...ing" semantically equivalent to "if not" in one case and what doesn't in another...
I wonder if the words “which is a symptom” in the initial version couldn’t be attributed to the principal clause as a whole, that is to the very fact of feeling uneasy and irritated rather than to the two separate characteristics “uneasy” and “irritated”. If they could, then using singular (“which is a symptom”) would be all right here, wouldn’t it? And no substitution would be necessary.
'Which' in the amended version refers back to a single state, 'feeling uneasy and irritated', and so should take a verb in the singular.
It might even be possible to argue that 'which' in this case doesn't have a proper antecedent. But it seems to be idiomatic.
'When not using a computer', perhaps.