not with/without
navi
1-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman,
not with any significant difference with his first wife.
2-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman not
with any significant difference with his first wife.
3-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman,
without any significant difference with his first wife.
4-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman
without any significant difference with his first wife.
John Dean
Not very clear what the sentence is trying to say but my first reaction is
"None of them".
Are you looking for something like "... John settled down with a woman,
who was not significantly different from his first wife."?
--
John Dean
Oxford
Eric Walker
The first problem is that because the castings are quite unidiomatic, we
do not know if the intended meaning is that the woman with whom he
settled down was quite similar to his first wife or whether it is that
his life with this woman was quite similar to his life with his first
wife.
The use of prepositions in a language is highly idiomatic. The
preposition "with" is not natural with the word "difference".
"Different" is commonly seen in association with "from", "than", and
"to"; though there are differences of opinion on the relative worth of
those prepositions with "different", "from" is probably the best choice.
If the intended sense is that the woman was very similar to his first
wife, then the wanted casting is something like "a woman not
significantly different from his first wife". That, however, is
needlessly wordy owing to being in the negative, and "a woman much like
his first wife" is crisper.
But I realize that your question revolves around negative forms. Let's
try, then some more idiomatic castings that still address your issues.
5. John was a man without hope, but he struggled on anyway.
6. John was a man not with hope, but with a dogged determination to
carry on to the end.
Number 5 is ordinary and satisfactory. Number 6 is rather infelicitous,
but probably acceptable--some would want a comma after "man", others
might omit the one after "hope". Most would agree that a recasting would
be best of all for that one.
In general "not with" is not natural. It can be used, but only with
care: He trod on, not with hope but with a sort of sullen stubbornness.
--
Cordially,
Eric Walker
navi
Thank you both.
What do you think of this sentence:
A-Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with another
word, not with any significant difference in meaning.
or:
B-Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with another one,
not with any significant difference in meaning.
It seems to me that "not with any significant difference in meaning"
is postmodifyint "word" or "one' in these sentences. But are the
sentences correct.
Marius Hancu
> What do you think of this sentence:
>
> A-Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with another
> word, not with any significant difference in meaning.
> or:
> B-Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with another one,
> not with any significant difference in meaning.
I think they're both non-idiomatic, and I'd use something like:
Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with one/something
not really different in meaning.
Marius Hancu
Marius Hancu
None of them sound too idiomatic to me. Try:
After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman that,
[not surprisingly for any of us], wasn't really different from his
first wife.
After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman that
wasn't even a bit different from his first wife.
After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman that,
we could tell, wasn't even a bit different from his first wife.
Marius Hancu
Don Phillipson
news:ee96939b-35e7-432d...@l22g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
> > Which are correct:
>
> > 1-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman, not
> > with any significant difference with his first wife.
>
> > 2-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman not
> > with any significant difference with his first wife.
>
> > 3-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman,
> > without any significant difference with his first wife.
>
> > 4-After living alone for two years, John settled down with a woman
> > without any significant difference with his first wife.
> . . .
> A-Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with another
> word, not with any significant difference in meaning.
> or:
> B-Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with another one,
> not with any significant difference in meaning.
>
> It seems to me that "not with any significant difference in meaning"
> is postmodifyint "word" or "one' in these sentences. But are the
> sentences correct.
The common element here is the OP's preference for "with a difference"
(noun) over "different" (adjective.) These two are functionally similar,
but
the adjective is usually preferred as clearer as well as briefer. It is not
clear whether the OP understands this.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
navi
On Feb 12, 5:52 am, "Don Phillipson" <e...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:
> "navi" <lorca1...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> (Ottawa, Canada)- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Yes. Thanks. Actually I would go for "quite similar"," very much
like"....
No my problem was that I was convinced that
B-Many times, she crossed out a word and replaced it with another
one,
not with any significant difference in meaning.
was correct but I thought 'not with any significant difference in
meaning" was an adjectival clause postmodifying "one". It now seems
obvious to me that it is not. It is an adverbial modifying the
sentence or the verb.
It is like:
The dose of the medication was increased, with no significant change
in the patient's condition.