Oct 17, 2011 01:44
12 yrs ago
4 viewers *
English term
back or forth
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
I´d like to know if this expression is correct : "I don´t like your attitude in class. Remember it can take you back or forth."
I suppose it means his attitude can help him improve or not, obtain good results or not. It is a comment a teacher makes to a student.
I suppose it means his attitude can help him improve or not, obtain good results or not. It is a comment a teacher makes to a student.
Responses
+5
51 mins
Lindsay Spratt
France
France
Native in English
&
English
Works in field
France
Por/Sp/Cat/Fr->En, IoLDipTrans, MACantab
Native in: English
Works in: Portuguese to English, Spanish to English, English, and 2 more.
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20
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will help you progress or not
This sentence sounds strange to me because I would never say 'back or forth'. There are no hits for it in Google when I enter it. The normal expression is 'back AND forth' but it would also sound strange in this context. 'Back and forth' is an expression indicating movement from one place to another and back. It's a repetition that doesn't make progress. So if the teacher wanted to say that the student's bad attitude was taking him 'back and forth', she wouldn't use 'can', if you see what I mean.
So I assume that your interpretation is correct, the teacher says 'back or forth' because the student needs to remember that a good attitude will allow him to make progress, and a bad attitude will prevent progress.
But the phrases are still quite strange. Because she says 'I don't like your attitude' and then 'IT can take you back or forth' when really his bad attitude can only take him 'back'.
I hope this analysis helps in some way!
So I assume that your interpretation is correct, the teacher says 'back or forth' because the student needs to remember that a good attitude will allow him to make progress, and a bad attitude will prevent progress.
But the phrases are still quite strange. Because she says 'I don't like your attitude' and then 'IT can take you back or forth' when really his bad attitude can only take him 'back'.
I hope this analysis helps in some way!
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Sheila Wilson
: Agree with everything you say.
4 hrs
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Thank you, Sheila!
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| agree |
Charles Davis
: I'm sure your interpretation is right, though it doesn't sound so strange to me, and I get lots of Google hits for "back or forth" (backward or forward). It's loosely expressed, perhaps, but evidently "it" means "your attitude", whether good or bad.
4 hrs
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Thanks, Charles!
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| agree |
Ashutosh Mitra
: perfect....
5 hrs
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Thanks, Ashutosh!
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| agree |
Jenni Lukac (X)
5 hrs
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Thanks, Jenni!
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| agree |
AllegroTrans
19 hrs
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Thanks, AllegroTrans!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks for your answer. "
+1
6 hrs
Anaphoric referencing problem...see explanation
I agree with Lindsay in that the phrase "back and forth" is more common....the utterance seems to have that strange kind of "offness" that is usually explained as being produced by a non-native speaker of English (albeit a proficient one perhaps).
The problem in understanding it stems from the issue of Anaphoric referencing, which creates a cohesion problem:
"I don´t like your attitude in class. Remember it can take you back or forth."
The problem is that ambiguity exists as to what "it" is referring to. There are two possibilities:
1. "It" refers to the "attitude" itself.
2. "It" refers to the entire clause, the <U>fact</U> that the teacher doesn't like the student's attitude in class.
It probably does refer to the attitude itself, but this kind of ambiguity coupled with the odd phraseology of the second clause doesn't help matters.
Therefore there are two potential meanings:
1. His attitude is back and forth, mood swings.
2. His progress is back and forth, i.e. his attitude impedes his progress.
Either way, I think the illocutionary force (intended meaning) of the utterance is that progress is at stake, they've just phrased it weirdly.
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Note added at 6 hrs (2011-10-17 08:07:35 GMT)
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Forgive the formatting errors
The problem in understanding it stems from the issue of Anaphoric referencing, which creates a cohesion problem:
"I don´t like your attitude in class. Remember it can take you back or forth."
The problem is that ambiguity exists as to what "it" is referring to. There are two possibilities:
1. "It" refers to the "attitude" itself.
2. "It" refers to the entire clause, the <U>fact</U> that the teacher doesn't like the student's attitude in class.
It probably does refer to the attitude itself, but this kind of ambiguity coupled with the odd phraseology of the second clause doesn't help matters.
Therefore there are two potential meanings:
1. His attitude is back and forth, mood swings.
2. His progress is back and forth, i.e. his attitude impedes his progress.
Either way, I think the illocutionary force (intended meaning) of the utterance is that progress is at stake, they've just phrased it weirdly.
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Note added at 6 hrs (2011-10-17 08:07:35 GMT)
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Forgive the formatting errors
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
AllegroTrans
: When I went to school many a native-English speaking teacher spoke in riddles, it goes with the job
7 hrs
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Thanks! :-)
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Discussion