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10:33 Dec 20, 2011
English to English translations [Non-PRO] Art/Literary - Linguistics
English term or phrase:even
Sentence: "By seeing, feeling, acknowledging, accepting and, even more demanding, actually living the very existence of duality, of the two, the One will be obvious, freedom beyond the two."
Is the usage of the word 'even' proper here in this context? Or another expression would be more suitable?
The meaning here is that the earlier mentioned verbs are already demanding in themselves, and the 'actually living' is even more demanding, on top of that. The word 'much' instead of even would be maybe grammatically correct but it would indicate that the earlier mentioned verbs would not be so demanding as the last one and this is not true, so 'much' can't be used. So even seems a good option but I'm not sure if it's grammatically correct.
Explanation: Surprisingly, I disagree with Sheila here - at least if the target audience is UK English. It seems to me that an adjectival phrase is required hence. Hence, "even more demandingLY" = in an even more demanding way/manner/context.
In US English of course, it's relatively frequent to use an adjective (demanding) in place of an adverb. But even there, I'd expect "demandingly" in a formal written text.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-12-20 11:39:46 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
P.S. I prefer "even" to "much" in either version of the phrase!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-12-20 11:41:47 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
P.P.S. Another version "or, what is even more demanding, ..."
The reason I asked is because the text was checked by a Canadian English native speaker and he changed 'even' to 'much' with a remark "'even' here doesn't work for me" so I got confused and needed confirmation from other English natives if it's alright.
Yes, this is what I meant. The use of "much" would indicate a big difference in intensity between the list and the last verb I think, and that's not what is meant by the author. And the word "even" doesn't rule out the intensity of the earlier mentioned verbs but only adds that the last one is more intense. Sorry if I didn't express myself clearly enough.
I don't quite follow your logic as there seems to be a contradiction. "much" would mean there is a big difference in difficulty between the list and the last item - maybe that's true, maybe not. "even" says that all these things are important, with the last one being the most difficult.
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Answers
1 hr confidence:
even more demandingly
Explanation: Surprisingly, I disagree with Sheila here - at least if the target audience is UK English. It seems to me that an adjectival phrase is required hence. Hence, "even more demandingLY" = in an even more demanding way/manner/context.
In US English of course, it's relatively frequent to use an adjective (demanding) in place of an adverb. But even there, I'd expect "demandingly" in a formal written text.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-12-20 11:39:46 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
P.S. I prefer "even" to "much" in either version of the phrase!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-12-20 11:41:47 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
P.P.S. Another version "or, what is even more demanding, ..."
DLyons Ireland Local time: 02:19 Meets criteria Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
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