Αγγλικές συντακτικές απορίες

[Costas]

"For many years, New Yorkers have asked the question: How could Speaker Silver, one of the most powerful men in all of New York, earn millions of dollars in outside income without deeply compromising his ability to honestly serve his constituents? Today, we provide the answer: He didn't."
(PREET BHARARA, United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, at a news conference to announce corruption charges against Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the New York State Assembly. ) (ΝΥΤ)

Αυτό το he didn't δεν έπρεπε να είναι he couldn't ? Εγώ, διαβάζοντας το he didn't, σκέφτηκα: "he didn't earn millions" ή "he didn't deeply compromise".

(δεν ήξερα τι τίτλο να βάλω στο νήμα)

 

[cougr]

Το "he didn't" αναφέρεται στο "honestly serve his constituents".

 

[Costas]

Νοηματικά, ναι, εννοείται. Αλλά συντακτικά; Το serve είναι ένα απαρέμφατο μιας δευτερεύουσας πρότασης, εξαρτημένης από άλλη δευτερεύουσα· δεν εξαρτάται από την ερώτηση how? της αρχής. Όμως το 'he didn't" είναι the answer σε αυτή την αρχική ερώτηση.

 

[nickel]

He could because he didn't.
He could (earn millions of dollars) because he didn't (honestly serve his constituents).

 

[Costas]

Εντάξει, ας γράψω κι εγώ την πλήρη διατύπωσή μου: He couldn't (because earning millions in outside income without deeply compromising your ability to honestly serve your constituents is actually impossible)

 

[nickel]

Η διαφορά είναι ότι ο cougr έκανε τέσσερις λέξεις πίσω ενώ εσύ πήγες πίσω όλο το δρόμο και γύρισες άλλες τόσες λέξεις. Ποιος λαχάνιασε περισσότερο;

 

[Costas]

Η διαφορά είναι ότι εγώ απάντησα στο head ενώ ο cougr στο tail. :) (Τι εννοείς ότι "γύρισα άλλες τόσες λέξεις;")

 

[Hellegennes]

Αυτό που περιγράφεις δεν είναι καθόλου σπάνιο, τουλάχιστον στην καθομιλουμένη. Τέτοιου είδους αρνήσεις ή καταφάσεις συνήθως απαντούν στο τελευταίο κομμάτι, όχι στο σύνολο της πρότασης.

 

[nickel]

(Τι εννοείς ότι "γύρισα άλλες τόσες λέξεις;")

Σαχλαμαρίτσα. Ο ένας πήγε και γύρισε τέσσερα μέτρα δρόμο, ο άλλος εκατό.

 

[SBE]

Να το πούμε και πιο απλά; Αν εγώ άκουγα αυτή την πρόταση, που είναι σιδηρόδρομος, και μετά διάβαζα he couldn't, θα αντιλαμβανόμουν ότι δεν μπορούσε (δεν είχε την ικανότητα) να ανταποκριθεί στις υποχρεώσεις του, όχι ότι δεν ήταν τίμιος.

 

[Costas]

Υποκλίνομαι απρόθυμα στην αρχή της πλειοψηφίας...

 

[Philip]

I agree with Costas' analysis in #5, but not with his idea that ONLY "could " is right. "did" seems to me to be equally likely, and be more forceful. [he did not do X without endangering Y, = in doing X, he endangered Y. "How could he do X without endangering Y?" is not a pure question here, unlike, say, "how could we get there in time?" . It has a rhetorical force, and the context is adversarial.]

 

[cougr]

Quite right, Philip. Both Costa and yourself make valid points.

In my hurried reading of the sentence the other day and largely being misled by the writer having posed the question with a "how could (he)" but responding with a "He didn't", I had assumed that the writer had sort of circumnavigated the stated question, and simply wanted to make emphasis of the Speaker's failure of duty to his constituents. Hence my linking semantically the phrase "He didn't", to the final part of the immediately preceding question, ie. "honestly serve his constituents".

However, one has to assume, in all likelihood, that the writer's answer was in fact in direct correspondence to the question posed, in which case either "couldn't" or "didn't" (as you explain above) would work.

 

[dominotheory]

"For many years, New Yorkers have asked the question: How could Speaker Silver, one of the most powerful men in all of New York, earn millions of dollars in outside income without deeply compromising his ability to honestly serve his constituents? Today, we provide the answer: He didn't."

(In fact / The truth is that) He didn't earn millions of dollars in outside income without deeply compromising his ability to honestly serve his constituents.
(In fact / The truth is that) He didn't earned millions of dollars in outside income by/through deeply compromising his ability to honestly serve his constituents.

Δηλαδή:

New Yorkers have asked the question: How could he do it?
The answer is: (We're sure) He didn't do it.