As bizarre as such tales may strike those ...

[teacherjapan]

As bizarre as such tales may strike those who first hear them, they are typically also somehow plausible. (It’s a quote from an entrance examination for a college in Japan, so I don’t know where this sentence came from)

Would you grammatically explain the underlined “As?” Sorry, it is a bit off-topic, but I used to use Englishforums, but it’s not available anymore. Does anyone know anything about the closed site? It’s unfortunate that I can’t check my previous posts.

 

[teechar]

Hi there, and welcome to the usingenglish forum.
Please get into the habit of telling us (citing) where any sentence you quote comes from. The one above seems to be missing a verb ("are").

 

[jutfrank]

I don't think there's a verb missing. I think the sentence is attempting to follow this pattern:

As strange as it may seem ...

This is equivalent to saying 'Although it may seem strange, ...'

For the original, a paraphrase could be: 'Although it may strike those who first hear such tales as bizarre, ...'.

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think there's a verb missing.

Post 1 has been edited. It originally said "... they typically also somehow plausible". The OP added "are" later.

 

[teacherjapan]

Thank you very much. I am glad that it’s just the same as I imagined it would be.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you very much. I am glad that it’s just the same as I imagined it would be.

Your gratitude is appreciated but:
1) There's no need to write a new post to thank anyone. Simply add the "Thanks" icon to any post you find useful.
2) As far as the source goes, you simply needed to tell us in post #1 that the sentence was taken from a college entrance exam in Japan and that you don't have any other information about it. The important thing is that you simply cite the source (as much information as you have) in post #1 every time.