question!

[Taka]

The sentence:

Some parents of bilingual children try to encourage their children by characterizing them as "double" rather than "half",emphasizing the advantage of having two cultural backgrounds.

Which word does "emphasizing" modify, "try" or "encourage"?

[Tdol]

I'm not sure that it can be pinned down to a single word. It's adding additional information to explain the 'double' idea.

[Taka]

I'm not sure that it can be pinned down to a single word. It's adding additional information to explain the 'double' idea.

If you had to pick one for grammatical reason, which one do you think it could be; "try" or "encourage"?

[Francois]

I would say 'try', if I had to pick one.

FRC

[Taka]

I would say 'try', if I had to pick one.

FRC

Thank you, Francois.

(Allow me to ask. What is your nationality?)

[Francois]

Same as Zidane

FRC

[A.Russell]

Same as Zidane

FRC

The main verb in the sentence is try if that is what you mean.

[Francois]

If you say "He tried to placate Tubby, treating her with chocolate fudge", the action "treating her with..." shows how he tried to placate her. So the goal is to placate her, but the current action is to try to do so. Is it the goal or the means that is emphasized? I would say the latter, but this is not so clear-cut.

FRC

[Taka]

Same as Zidane

FRC

Zidane

[Tdol]

Do you watch football?