mh8782
New member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2012
- Member Type
- Academic
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Great Britain
- Current Location
- Great Britain
I am reading a sentence and I wonder how it should be interpreted properly.
"There are more important things in life than grants and publications, but in the absence of those, we focus on what we can".
My person who wrote this is an academic, and I assume that they have publications. Does the word "those" refer to the "important things in life", or the "grants and publications"?
Do you interpret this as the person saying they focus on the papers and grants, because they lack the important things in life? Or are they saying they don't have enough papers and grants, so they focus on other things? It changes the meaning quite a lot, with the first interpretation being quite sad.
"There are more important things in life than grants and publications, but in the absence of those, we focus on what we can".
My person who wrote this is an academic, and I assume that they have publications. Does the word "those" refer to the "important things in life", or the "grants and publications"?
Do you interpret this as the person saying they focus on the papers and grants, because they lack the important things in life? Or are they saying they don't have enough papers and grants, so they focus on other things? It changes the meaning quite a lot, with the first interpretation being quite sad.