[Grammar] be of so much importance

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notletrest

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Can we say : According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was " so much importance attached to intellectual pursuits."
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5jj

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Barb_D

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Except I think you mean "philosophy" and not "pholosophy"?

Where is this part of the American colonies? I'm just curious.
 

5jj

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notletrest

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Except I think you mean "philosophy" and not "pholosophy"?

Where is this part of the American colonies? I'm just curious.

1. Thanks for your careful reading and correction!

2.Before that sentence ,you can read : The most thoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the New World are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to...

3.Would you please analyse that sentence, especially the function of " importance attached to intellectual pursuits".

4.If that one were right ,this one would be right ,too, in my humble opinion. That is "The country is so much importance .

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Barb_D

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The most thoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the New World are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was " so much importance attached to intellectual pursuits."


3.Would you please analyse that sentence, especially the function of " importance attached to intellectual pursuits".

People in New England thought it was important to dedicated time and effort to study and learn.

4.If that one were right ,this one would be right ,too, in my humble opinion. That is "The country is so much importance .I'm not sure what you're asking here. However, "importance" is a noun. You can "have" [much] importance, or you can "be" important, but you can't "be importance."

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notletrest

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The most thoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the New World are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was " so much importance attached to intellectual pursuits."
I am sorry the more you explained, the more I am puzzled.
1. Is “importance” a complement or a subject of the complement clause ?
2. How can you get “people” from “nowhere else” ? In my eyes it can only be paraphrased by a place. So I simplified it into “ The country is importance”, and obviously it is wrong ,from which we can infer the original one is wrong.
3.Your explanation changed the construction of the sentence thoroughly making me lost directions.
I beg your parden!
 

5jj

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2. How can you get “people” from “nowhere else” ? In my eyes it can only be paraphrased by a place. So I simplified it into “ The country is importance”, and obviously it is wrong ,from which we can infer the original one is wrong.
The original is fine.

... nowhere else in colonial America was so much importance attached to intellectual pursuits.

As in many passive sentences, the 'do-er' of the action is not stated. However, the importance was attached by someone:

... nowhere else in colonial America was so much importance attached (by people) to intellectual pursuits

which carries a similar message to:

Nowhere else in colonial America (i.e. nowhere but in New England) did people attach so much importance to intellectual pursuits.

Barb parphrased that as:

People in New England thought it was important to dedicate time and effort to study and learn.


 

notletrest

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The original is fine.

... nowhere else in colonial America was so much importance attached to intellectual pursuits.

As in many passive sentences, the 'do-er' of the action is not stated. However, the importance was attached by someone:

... nowhere else in colonial America was so much importance attached (by people) to intellectual pursuits

which carries a similar message to:

Nowhere else in colonial America (i.e. nowhere but in New England) did people attach so much importance to intellectual pursuits.

Barb parphrased that as:

People in New England thought it was important to dedicate time and effort to study and learn.
Judging a sentence right from wrong is by grammar not by adding something to it.
1.” Nowhere else in colonial America (i.e. nowhere but in New England)”-----I don’t know why you don’t say but in China?
.2.Accoding to your explanation,” Nowhere else in colonial America (i.e. nowhere but in New England) did people attach so much importance to intellectual pursuits.”, you have changed the object of our discussion.
3.In the original sentence, “nowhere else” is the subject, ,”importance” is the complement, and “attached to …”the attributive of “importance”. In short the one is “ Nowhere was importance,” which can you think is right?
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5jj

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Judging a sentence right from wrong is by grammar not by adding something to it. The original sentence is correct grammatically, as I suggested in my first response. We added things to it to bring out the meaning,
1.” Nowhere else in colonial America (i.e. nowhere but in New England)”-----I don’t know why you don’t say but in China?
Because the writer was talking about new England, not China!
.2.Accoding to your explanation,” Nowhere else in colonial America (i.e. nowhere but in New England) did people attach so much importance to intellectual pursuits.”, you have changed the object of our discussion.
No I haven't. 'Nowhere else' has meaning only in the context of the preceding sentence, which mentions New England.

3.In the original sentence, “nowhere else” is the subject, ,”importance” is the complement, and “attached to …”the attributive of “importance”. In short the one is “ Nowhere was importance,” which can you think is right? Nowhere else' is not the subject; 'so much importance' is the grammatical subject of 'was'.
5
 

Barb_D

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Perhaps the passive structure of the original sentence was hidden because the grammatical subject did not come first.

It is further complicated by the inherent negative "nowhere else was so much importance" meaning "it was not as important anywhere else."

People in New England attached more importance to intellectual pursuits than people in the rest of Colonial America did.

Make it passive: More importance was attached to intellectual pursuits in New England than anywhere else in Colonial America.

Add that negative: Nowhere else in Colonial America was more importance attached to intellectual pursuits.
 

notletrest

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It is 'so much importance' is the grammatical subject of 'was' that is the key to the questionh. For examinees who don't know what is the New World,and New England and colonial America,such topic brings them much trouble.
Thanks to Barb and 5jj !
 
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notletrest

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2.Accoding to your explanation,” Nowhere else in colonial America (i.e. nowhere but in New England) -----But I don't know
why you should before New England put "in"
,because nowhere can be either an adverb or a noun,which means no existent place. If we regard nowhere as an adverb ,as you did, the original sentence is right, if we take nowhere for a noun, it is wrong.So I think the sentence is between right and wrong.
Thanks!
 
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