only 20% or 30% of the world winds up benefiting

[GoodTaste]

What is the difference between "only 20% or 30% of the world winds up benefiting" and "only 20% or 30% of the world is finally benefited"?

"Wind up" means "To come or bring to a finish; end" - so they seem to be the same. I am not sure. Perhaps the former is more natural. I am not sure.

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Proponents of the waiver disagree, pointing out that generics manufacturers have been supplying the world with high-quality vaccines and medicines for years. They point out that taxpayers helped to foot the bill for the development of several COVID-19 vaccines, and say that the claim that pharmaceutical companies must recoup all the costs is therefore unfair — especially during a crisis. Several other obstacles must be addressed, however, such as making sure distribution is equitable.

Cohen says: “These vaccines are an unparalleled triumph for science, but if only 20% or 30% of the world winds up benefiting, what is the point of the innovation?”

Source: Nature

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, you've understood correctly. You're just trying to say the same thing in different words, right?

 

[Tdol]

Perhaps the former is more natural. I am not sure.

It is. Your version is not natural to me.

 

[GoodTaste]

It is. Your version is not natural to me.

It made me scratch my head trying to figure out why this version is not natural.

Would "winds up being benefited" be natural? I just have had a hard time in understanding the use of "benefiting", which sounds active (while in my mind it seems that only the passive form - "be benefited" - is accurate).

 

[Tarheel]

Good Taste, it seems that you disagree with the writer and that you think you could have said it better. Furthermore, you seem to be preoccupied with grammar. If I were you I would focus on the sense of the sentence.

 

[GoodTaste]

Not at all.
I wanted to know different forms of expressing the same meaning and their rhetorical implications.
Apparently, there are no easy ways to do it.

 

[jutfrank]

I just have had a hard time in understanding the use of "benefiting", which sounds active (while in my mind it seems that only the passive form - "be benefited" - is accurate).

I see your question now. The verb benefit is one of an odd group of verbs where in its intransitive use (as in the OP example) the subject is the receiver, and in its transitive use, the object is the receiver.

 

[GoodTaste]

I see your question now. The verb benefit is one of an odd group of verbs where in its intransitive use (as in the OP example) the subject is the receiver, and in its transitive use, the object is the receiver.

OK now we've moved a step further. Here's a minor question: Does "only 20% or 30% of the world winds up being benefited" work? Is it natural?

 

[probus]

It is gramnatical and understandable but not natural. When we are dealing with languages that are not our mother tongue we often cannot be quite sure whether something is natural, because natural means what a native speaker would choose.