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Think of X as Y Issue

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Think of X as Y Issue

by sana.noor » Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:03 pm
In contrast to Freud, many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning and are only substitutions of some better-learned response for one that is less familier though intended.
a) many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning and are
b) many psychologists now think of "slips of the tongue" not as fraught with hidden meaning but
c) many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning but are
d) it is now thought by many psychologists that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning but
e)"slips pf the tongue" are now thought by many psychologists not to be fraught with hidden meaning and are.

C

my question is that why B isnt right as it is using the right idiom "Think of X not as Y But only"
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by Tommy Wallach » Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:42 pm
Hey Sana,

Happy to help, but let's look at all the answers!
In contrast to Freud, many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning and are only substitutions of some better-learned response for one that is less familiar though intended.
a) many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning and are
The idiom is "Are not X but are Y" (assuming that X and Y contrast)
b) many psychologists now think of "slips of the tongue" not as fraught with hidden meaning but
Two problems here. The idiom "not as X but Y" requires two nouns, whereas we get an adjective and a noun. Because of that, the parallelism is also kinda off. We have:

1) not as fraught with hidden meaning (adjectival phrase, wrong)
2) but only substitutions of some better-learned response (noun, woulda been ok)

c) many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning but are

The parallelism here does work. We have:

1) no parallel marker "are not fraught" (verb)
2) but "are only substitutions" (verb)
d) it is now thought by many psychologists that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden
meaning but
We have to have "many psychologists" after the comma in order to contrast with Freud.

e)"slips pf the tongue" are now thought by many psychologists not to be fraught with hidden meaning and are.

We have to have "many psychologists" after the comma. Also the "and" issue from (A).

Hope that helps!

-t
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by sana.noor » Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:57 pm
It really helps...thankyou
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by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:10 pm
Tommy's explanation is great here. I just want to say more generally... sentences with two-part parallel markers can be especially tricky:
not X but Y
either X or Y
not only X but also Y
both X and Y
etc.

We sometimes think we know what our X and Y are logically (we want to compare hidden meanings to substitutions in your example), so we overlook the fact that what comes after the "not" is not the same structurally as what comes after "but."

Consider this sentence:
In order to write a popular young adult novel, the author must include either fantastical creatures such as vampires and werewolves, or introduce the threat of death.

Seems reasonable, right? But does the part after "either" match the part after "or"? No!
In order to write a popular young adult novel, the author must include either fantastical creatures such as vampires and werewolves, or introduce the threat of death.
Our X element is a noun (fantastical creatures), and our Y element is a verb (introduce).

So, pay particular attention to what follows each parallel marker in these two-parters!
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by hemant_rajput » Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:05 am
Tommy Wallach wrote:Hey Sana,

Happy to help, but let's look at all the answers!
In contrast to Freud, many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning and are only substitutions of some better-learned response for one that is less familiar though intended.
a) many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning and are
The idiom is "Are not X but are Y" (assuming that X and Y contrast)
b) many psychologists now think of "slips of the tongue" not as fraught with hidden meaning but
Two problems here. The idiom "not as X but Y" requires two nouns, whereas we get an adjective and a noun. Because of that, the parallelism is also kinda off. We have:

1) not as fraught with hidden meaning (adjectival phrase, wrong)
2) but only substitutions of some better-learned response (noun, woulda been ok)

c) many psychologists now think that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden meaning but are

The parallelism here does work. We have:

1) no parallel marker "are not fraught" (verb)
2) but "are only substitutions" (verb)
d) it is now thought by many psychologists that "slips of the tongue" are not fraught with hidden
meaning but
We have to have "many psychologists" after the comma in order to contrast with Freud.

e)"slips pf the tongue" are now thought by many psychologists not to be fraught with hidden meaning and are.

We have to have "many psychologists" after the comma. Also the "and" issue from (A).

Hope that helps!

-t
Hi Tommy,

I get you explanation, just wanted to know what is the name of the error in Option d and e. I mean, is it an error or modifier or something else.
I'm no expert, just trying to work on my skills. If I've made any mistakes please bear with me.
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by Tommy Wallach » Tue Feb 12, 2013 8:34 am
Hey Sana,

Yes, that is the traditional error known as a misplaced modifier. If you can't immediately recognize that one, you definitely need to spend more time with the sc book, as it comes up constantly.

T
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