Bear a relation

[MrPedantic]

Hello Nyggus

Yes, that seems a good example:

1. "Nevertheless, the writing is done, and our material success is likely to bear a close relation to how efficiently we can do it."

This means: "our material success is likely to depend on how efficiently we can do it", i.e. the efficiency directly affects the success.

If the Advanced Learners' Dictionary were correct, however, it would mean:

2. "Nevertheless, the writing is done, and our material success is likely to be similar to how efficiently we can do it."

— which is clearly nonsense!

MrP

[nyggus]

Hi, MrPedantic.

I do agree with you. All this stuff begs the question if "to bear relation to" has several distinct meanings. The likely answer is yes, it has. One meaning is "to depend on," and the second, that of the Cambride Advance Learner's Dictionary, is "to be similar to." Am I right?

Best,
Nyggus

[MrPedantic]

Hello Nyggus

Yes, sometimes we can say that because X bears no relation to Y, X is therefore not similar to Y, e.g.

1. The film bears no relation to the book of the same name.

Cf.

2. The fact that I have no money bears some relation to the fact that I haven't had a proper job for 10 years.

Here, X (having no money) is "connected" to Y (having no job); but it isn't "similar" to it.

But I think the Cambridge example is slightly misleading: the phrase isn't used to express "similarity", though "similarity" is sometimes implicit in the "relation".

MrP