such as

[navi tasan]

Which of these sentences are correct:

1-In Germany, Goethe was a great poet such as Shakespeare was in England.
2-Goethe was a poet such as Shakespeare.
3-He wanted to become a poet such as Shakespeare.

 

[Casiopea]

Which of these sentences is correct:

1-In Germany, Goethe was a great poet such as Shakespeare was in England.
2-Goethe was a poet such as Shakespeare.
3-He wanted to become a poet such as Shakespeare.

Hmm. You know, all seem somewhat odd as is. But, if you allow me to change the sentence just a tad, my pick would then be sentence 1.

1. In Germany, Goethe was a great poet such as was Shakespeare in England.

2. Goethe was a poet such as Shakespeare. :?:

3. He wanted to become a poet such as Shakespeare. :?:

 

[RonBee]

Which of these sentences are correct:

1-In Germany, Goethe was a great poet such as Shakespeare was in England.
2-Goethe was a poet such as Shakespeare.
3-He wanted to become a poet such as Shakespeare.

I don't think such as works very well in those sentences.

Sentence one will be perfect with a slight change. Try:

• In Germany, Goethe was a great poet, much as Shakespeare was in England.

For sentence two, try:

• Goethe was a poet, like Shakespeare.

For sentence three, try:

• He wanted to become a poet much like Shakespeare.

What do you think?

 

[navi tasan]

Thanks for all your replies Casiopea and RonBee.
I didn't think that "such as" worked well in these sentences either, but I just couldn't figure out why. It seems to work in:

"I'll never let another occasion such as this one go by."

doesn't it?

In any case, your sentences are definitely much better; "like" seems to be the word.

 

[Casiopea]

Well, I believe it has to do with specificity. "Goethe" is specific, whereas "occasion" is non-specific.

A. "...let another occasion such as this one..."

The word 'occasion' is made more specific by modifying it with 'such as this one'.


B. "...Geothe was a poet such as Shakespeare..."

The word 'poet' is made more specific by modifying it with 'such as Shakespeare'.

The problem here is the linking verb 'was'. It connects 'Goethe', a specfic person, with 'poet'. That is, 'poet' refers to 'Goethe', and 'such as' refers to 'poet' which refers back to 'Goethe'. In other words, 'such as' functions to make 'Goethe' more specific. That's the problem. 'Goethe' is not 'Shakespeare'. He is like Shakespeare.

"like" works well because it means, similar to: this is like this, whereas "such as" means, for example: this is this.

All the best,

Cas

P.S. Very interesting sentences! Thank you for the opportunity to play with them.

 

[RonBee]

Thanks for all your replies Casiopea and RonBee.
I didn't think that "such as" worked well in these sentences either, but I just couldn't figure out why. It seems to work in:

"I'll never let another occasion such as this one go by."

doesn't it?

In any case, your sentences are definitely much better; "like" seems to be the word.

I agree with your analysis. Certainly, each sentence is different. (I wouldn't use like in the first one.)

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you both once more.
Your explanation was very good indeed, Casiopea. I sort of felt something was wrong but couldn't figure out what.
As for my giving you the opportunity to play with those sentences, you really don't have to thank me. I am on the receiving end here. What's more, I'll probably come up with a lot more in the future. With me, producing these kinds of sentences is almost a mental illness!!

 

[RonBee]

1-A ship rapidly approaching picked up the signal.
2-A rapidly approaching ship picked up the signal.


3-They sent a message to a rapidly approaching ship.
4-They sent a message to a ship rapidly approaching.


5-The ship rapidly approaching picked up the signal.
6-The rapidly approaching ship picked up the signal.

I agree with her (Caseopia's) analysis, but I do not agree with her conclusion. The first sentence needs the missing words to be supplied before it makes sense, then there is still not enough information. "A ship that was rapidly approaching picked up the signal" raises the question "Rapidly approaching what?"

I would not use the first sentence. The second sentence is perfectly good, and the clear implication is that the ship is rapidly approaching the speaker.

The situation is similar with the other two sentence pairs. The "rapidly approaching ship" is fine with me, but I don't care for "ship rapidly approaching".

(Sorry for the late reply.)