Golden Line: "Pierre and Marie (then Slodowska, a penniless Polish immigrant living in a garrett in Paris) had met at the Sorbonne and been drawn to each other because of a common interest in magnetism" (74).
I think I found an error. It's grammatical, or mechanical, or syntactical, or, maybe, just the result of poor editing. The wrong word. Depends on what the author's intentions were. I could be wrong here, but I don't think so. It's on p. 75. See if you see what I see. Maybe I'm reading it incorrectly? But, I don't think so. Put on your editor cap. First one to respond will receive a resounding, "HIP HIP HOORAY!"
I'd love to hear from someone. All I've got are crickets right now.
Well, I do not have a hard copy but a kindle edition one. The page arrangement is not the same, and I am not really sure about my answer. "Rontgen called his form of light X-rays"(sorry about the name for I cannot type that), does the writer want to say" call this form of light X-rays". At least I try, and good luck to me.
ReplyDeleteGood try, Wendy. Let's see if anyone else offers a guess.
ReplyDeleteTHe first sentence of the first full paragraph on page 75, "It would take biologists decades to decipher the mechanism that lay behind these affects..." (Mukherjee 75), there are numerous things that could be changed, but I haven't a clue which is correct. Leaving the sentence as close to the authour's original wording, mechanisms could be plural, "It would take biologists decades to decipher the mechanisms that lay behind these affects..." as multiple affects could entail multiple mechanisms. We covered this just before exams, but is Mukherjee using the affect where he should be using effect? generally, affect is a verb, while effect in this case would make more sense, "It would take biologists decades to decipher the mechanisms that lay behind these effects [replace affects with 'results'(effects) and the sentence carries the correct meaning,]...." Finally, although these still don't make much sense, he could be using the wrong form of lay, which could be replaced with 'lie', or 'have lain', but I have not a clue as to how lay should be properly used and abused within proper sentence structure. Of course if you wanted to be extra Mr. Gillette esque, authours never make mistakes, but rather make use of poetic licence, which can forgive there shortcomings, both plot wise, and in grammar. Which is all to true, as some of the best things in this world transcend the confines of the grammar we are taught in schools, as we think thoughts, not languages, and consequently, language inherently hampers our thoughts, despite being among our best methods of communicating them.
ReplyDeleteAnd for all of my enthusiastic editing, I neglect to properly capitalise the first word in my response....
DeleteI don't know how I missed your posts, Nicholas. Nick? But, nope. That's not it. I disagree with Mr. G. Authors make mistakes. They are human. Yes, sometimes, errors are made as rhetorical choices, but not always. I love the last part of your post, but again must disagree as it goes against the "language is power" premise that underlies everything I do in the classroom. Alas, some do not have the facility with language to express their "thoughts." Powerlessness.
DeleteAnd Ncholas (Nick?), "Enthusiastic editing"....that just makes me want to run down my driveway and shout joyous noises out into the street. I can't say that I've ever seen those two words placed side by side!
DeleteNicholas, not Ncholas.
DeleteHi! I"m sorry I'm just posting now! I have been in mexico and have been really busy. I haven't had internet access until now so I thought I would put my word in! I am really liking this book so far. I find it really interesting to read about the history of cancer and how many people were involved in the discovery of it all. This section is especially interesting because Rontgen discovers the new technology of X-rays. Now being able to use X-rays, it opens so many new doors for other medical discoveries.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Ana. I'm just darn glad you are here now!
ReplyDeleteEvery sentence on page 75 seems to have an error now that I'm looking for one! Here are a few guesses; however, I'm not confident in any of them...
ReplyDeleteIn the first full paragraph: "DNA is an inert molecule, exquisitely resistant to most chemical reactions, for its job is to maintain the stability of genetic information" (75). The word "for" just doesn't seem quite right. Okay, I'm pretty sure this guess is wrong. I almost want to take it out of my guesses, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to have it here.
Next guess. Second full paragraph, second sentence. Should "Chicago" be "Chicagoan"? Or, later in the sentence, "inspired notion of using" doesn't seem quite right. Maybe it should read "inspired notion to use".
Okay, last guess. In the last paragraph, Mukherjee writes "finding no sheet of metal" (75). This might be wrong. Perhaps "not finding any sheet of metal" would be better, but that doesn't sound right at all, either.
Anything even close?