The more...the more.. usage in general statement

[kdst]

Hello :-?

I've got a problem with the construction of the following sentence.

The older the suspect’s photo that has been shown, the more careful assessment of the evidentiary value of the identification evidence the court should provide


(it's about police photo arrays; the sentence is a general conclussion, a kind of summary, which i'm translating into English)


Is it grammatically correct and understable? Or should I use past/present simple instead of "has been shown" ? I'm also not sure about used articles (a/the)



Thanks in advance

 

[jutfrank]

Whew! After reading it about ten times, I've decided that yes, it is grammatical. I want to put an article (a/the) before assessment, but I don't think it needs one, grammatically speaking. What do other members think?

Is it understandable? After about ten readings, barely. If I were translating, I'd rephrase the sentence.

Which tense should you use? That depends on the context. I don't see a reason not to use present simple is shown, but it may be that present perfect is more appropriate.

 

[jutfrank]

I think a definite article there makes it less difficult to comprehend.

Agreed. You'd prefer a definite one over an indefinite one, then? I think I'd prefer an indefinite one.

 

[Tdol]

I switch between my many readings, so I am not much use beyond saying there is a question.

 

[kdst]

Is it understandable? After about ten readings, barely. If I were translating, I'd rephrase the sentence.

Could you say how, please ?

 

[jutfrank]

Could you say how, please ?

I wouldn't want to do that without having the whole text to hand and of course a good understanding of the language that it needs to be translated from. Is it from Latvian?

 

[kdst]

I wouldn't want to do that without the having the whole text to hand and of course a good understanding of the language that it needs to be translated from. Is it from Latvian?

Polish My goal is to make the sentence easily comprehensive and 'natural' (translation doesnt have to be strict; it's just the idea that matters to me)

 

[Rover_KE]

kdst, please read what emsr2d2 said about your use of emoticons in your earlier thread.

 

[Skrej]

Hello :-?
The older the suspect’s photo that has been shown, the more careful assessment of the evidentiary value of the identification evidence the court should provide

It definitely could use some clarification, regardless of the article question or verb tense. It reads like legalese (which I gather it actually is.)

There are a couple of possible interpretations as written. Is the original text talking about the importance of the age of the person, or the importance of having a current photo of the suspect?

I've come up with two plausible interpretations based on your translation. Is either at all close to what the original text is stating?

1) The older the photo, (and thus the younger the person appears from their current age) the more carefully the court should assess the value of the photograph as evidence of identification. A picture taken long enough ago might not accurately reflect how the person looks now, leading to the possibility of eyewitness identification errors.

2) The older the person in the photo is, the more carefully the court should assess the value of the photo as evidence of identification - perhaps to avoid age bias.


Perhaps try breaking down what the original Polish text says into short sentences and translating those into English. Then maybe we could reconstruct them into a longer sentence. In short simple sentences, what concerns with a photo as evidence is the Polish text expressing?

 

[kdst]

There are a couple of possible interpretations as written. Is the original text talking about the importance of the age of the person, or the importance of having a current photo of the suspect?

It's about the importance of having a current photo of the suspect


The case in a nutshell: there was a robbery and the perpetrator left the crime scene. Thereafter, police conducted a photo array, showing the victim several photographs, including photo of the suspect taken 20 years ago. The victim identified the perpetrator. The problem is - as you rightly noted - that a picture taken long enough ago might not accurately reflect how the person looks now, leading to the possibility of eyewitness identification errors.