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Two possible ways of reading

Posted by Miri Barak on October 10, 2004

In Reply to: Two possible ways of reading posted by Smokey Stover on October 10, 2004

: : Hello dear friends:

: : my context:
: : "I integrate nonlinear messages from images, knowings, and interpretations of energy to help my patients - a potent alchemy that strengthens my practice of medicine.

Hello Smokey
albeit your failing to understand the meaning you gave me an excellent answer. by the way I misled you concerning the energy: it's supposed to be energy fields, and then it's obvious that it belongs only to the interpretations.

You never sleep?

Thanks so much
: : my question: does whe integrate images from all this things: images, knowing and interpretations, or does she integrate messages fromimages with knowings and interpretations. Do I have to apply the preposition from to all three factors or only to messages?

: : Thank you for your help!

: I see what you're asking. The straightforward or most linear way of reading this is to treat images, knowings and interpretations as parallel members of a series that includes all three, with the preposition "from" applying to each. A careless writer might indeed wish to say in this fashion that "messages from images" was parallel with "knowings" and "interpretations," but he would certainly be questioned by his editor, or ought to be. If we are going to seek other interpretations of the syntax we could even regard "non-linear messages from images" as one element of the series parallel with "knowings" and "interpretations." Since the meaning of the sentence is hardly obvious in any respect, one might ask if the phrase "of energy" applies only to the last member of the series, or to each of them. If I had to choose, I would go with the least non-linear interpretation of the syntax, that is, your first alternative, in which images, knowings and interpretations are the co-equal elements of the series. For the same reason, I would assume that "of energy" applied only to "interpretations," but with no great confidence, since I haven't a clue as to what the good doctor actually does or what the sentence really means. SS

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