Guest guest Posted May 24, 2006 Report Share Posted May 24, 2006 >> >...just as the holy Sarasvati River is worshiped with simple >> >offerings of her own water, this book is an offering of Sarasvati >> >to Sarasvati... >> >> The parts don't match. They're not parallel. >> >> As X is worshiped, Y is an offering. >> >> You could say: >> >> Just as one worships Sarasvati with simple offerings >> of her own water, I worship Sarasvati with this book, >> [which comes from her, however you want to say it]. > >Eagle eye precision, identifying that 'just as' must be followed by >parallel clauses. Differentiating between worship and offering, a >point not many would have noticed. Though it could be considered that >worship and offering are from a bhakti perspective synonymous, >parallel, but from the dictionary viewpoint they are not equivalent. >So the dictionary wins because to have both correct is complete. Thank you for the praise, Ajamila Prabhu. But that the parts didn't match had nothing to do with the definitions. The problem was that in the first version the clauses were not *grammatically* parallel. In that version, "is" in the first clause functioned to make the verb passive. In the second clause, "is" (working as a linking verb) functioned as the verb itself. So X was the recipient of the offering, whereas Y was the offering itself. That gave you, in effect: "Just as X receives an offering, Y constitutes an offering." Which isn't what was intended. The revised version straightens that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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