She had to cope with his snoring through the whole night.

[Kolridg]

Could you please tell how to understand the next sentence?

She had to cope with his snoring through the whole night.

I guess this means that she didn't have a good sleep waking up because of the snoring periodically, and this doesn't mean that she woke him up each time he started to snore (this could take place indirectly, but this is not the main idea of the sentence anyway, I think).

Ufortunately, this is just a casual sentence with no particular context. I took it from this answer.

 

[Barque]

He snored the whole night. She couldn't do anything about it. She had to put up with it.

Could you please tell how to understand the next sentence?

Could you please tell me how to understand the sentence below?

 

[White Hat]

She must have had to try a number of ways to get some sleep that night, like waking him up every now and then and wearing earplugs.

 

[Barque]

She may also have suffered in silence, without doing anything at all.

 

[jutfrank]

The original sentence is poor. The speaker means this:

She had to put up with his snoring the whole night.

We don't know if she woke him up, or tried to wake him up, but the implication is that she was awake for most of the night.

 

[White Hat]

'Put up with' and 'cope with' are slightly different in meaning, aren't they? I've always thought that 'put up with' is more passive action-wise than 'cope with'. Doesn't coping with something imply taking some kind of action? I've found this here: 'Put up with and cope with are not exactly interchangeable. To cope with is to take into account an adverse situation and overcome it, to deal with it. To put up with something is merely to tolerate it but not necessarily to overcome it'.

 

[Kolridg]

Put up with' and 'cope with' are slightly different in meaning, aren't they? I've always thought that 'put up with' is more passive action-wise than 'cope with'.

I would say they are different at all. "To cope" means to deal successfully with something or somebody.

Meantime, I wonder if it would be also possible to say:

She had to endure his snoring the whole night.

 

[White Hat]

I would say they are different at all. "To cope" means to deal successfully with something or somebody.

So in 'She had to cope with his snoring through the whole night' 'cope' does imply that the person was trying to do something about it and wasn't just lying there waiting for the morning to come, doesn't it?

 

[Kolridg]

So in 'She had to cope with his snoring through the whole night' 'cope' does imply that the person was trying to do something about it and wasn't just lying there waiting for the morning to come, doesn't it?

I think yes. In order to cope with something we need to take action towards it. "To cope" implies action, activity. So, when you are lying in bed and suffering from somebody's snoring, obviously there is no action against this difficulty, only acceptance of this difficulty. Scenario that she woke him up each time he started snoring is unlikely, I think. Otherwise, perhaps "to cope with the snoring" might be fine.

 

[Barque]

The problem here is that words aren't always used with their exact literal meaning. "Cope" can sometimes mean "put up".

If the intention was to say that she tried to do something about his snoring, it'd have been worded differently, strange as it may seem.

 

[Barque]

Meantime, I wonder if it would be also possible to say:

She had to endure his snoring the whole night.

For some reason I prefer to read that with "snoring" in the subjunctive (if I'm using the term right) than as a gerund.

 

[jutfrank]

'Put up with' and 'cope with' are slightly different in meaning, aren't they?

Yes, 'put up with' is synonymous with 'tolerate', almost always with a sense of passivity, as you say. A situation is undesirable to you and you're not taking action to change it. It's perfect for this context about silently lying in bed next to someone who's snoring while you're trying to go to sleep.

I've found this here: 'Put up with and cope with are not exactly interchangeable. To cope with is to take into account an adverse situation and overcome it, to deal with it. To put up with something is merely to tolerate it but not necessarily to overcome it'.

Yes, that's sounds about right.

 

[jutfrank]

Meantime, I wonder if it would be also possible to say:

She had to endure his snoring the whole night.

Yes, that's a good word choice for this context. The length of time, being the whole night, suggests endurance.