That increased instead of decreased our courage.

[sitifan]

That increased instead of decreased our courage. (my italics)
Source: New English-Chinese Dictionary, p.657.
Is the sentence grammatically correct?

 

[sitifan]

ChatGPT replies:
Yes — “That increased instead of decreased our courage.” is grammatically correct.
However, many native speakers would prefer to balance the verb forms for smoothness:

• More natural:
  • “That increased our courage instead of decreasing it.”
  • “That increased, rather than decreased, our courage.”

 

[BobK]

ChatGPT replies:
Yes — “That increased instead of decreased our courage.” is grammatically correct.
However, many native speakers would prefer to balance the verb forms for smoothness:

• More natural:
  • “That increased our courage instead of decreasing it.”
  • “That increased, rather than decreased, our courage.”

Far be it from me to question ChatGPT, but I don't see what 'to balance the verb forms for smoothness' means. In any case in order to work out what the answer means you need to be sure that it understands your question: what does it mean (that is, what does it assume - and of course I know that it doesn't assume anything [This is shorthand for 'What do its algorithms do to make it behave in a way that seems to imply an assumption?']- you mean) by 'grammatically correct'.

Assuming you mean something like 'would it be acceptable in an IELTS exam', I'd say it's understandable but inelegant. Either of the alternatives given by ChatGPT is better. I think that the first would work better as a piece of prose (written), and the second would work better as a piece of rhetoric (spoken in public).

 

[teechar]

That increased instead of decreased our courage.

I don't like that. In fact, I can't see why it would be grammatical.
The first sentence suggested by ChatGPT as an alternative is okay.

 

[Annabel Lee]

ChatGPT replies:
Yes — “That increased instead of decreased our courage.” is grammatically correct.
However, many native speakers would prefer to balance the verb forms for smoothness:

• More natural:
  • “That increased our courage instead of decreasing it.”
  • “That increased, rather than decreased, our courage.”

I wonder why Artificial Intelligence "thinks" it's grammatical to have a verb in the simple past as the object of a preposition! The first alternative suggested was the one that I was going to suggest, but it does change the positions of the phrases. Here's an alternative which does not do that:

That increased—not decreased—our courage.