You could never find a surface solid enough to stand on Saturn because

I am sorry I did not understand your logic.
It says - you CANNOT find a surface solid enough to stand.
Really don't feel A is changing the meaning in any way.

I went back and forth with this question between B and D. Now I believe I was analyzing the sentence entirely wrong.

Cut out the fluff and let’s write a simpler sentence. If we were at a concert and the entire floor was covered with people, I might say:

“You could never find a place to stand on the floor.”


On 2nd and even 3rd inspection, I now believe that A is the correct answer.

Besides other issues, the other answer choices muddy the interpretation by inserting relative pronouns.

As my sample sentence demonstrated, the “to” in the “to stand” phrase provides the intention for the Subject “you”.

Inserting “that” makes it seem like it might be the “surface” ITSELF that can’t stand on Saturn.

-C- has an Idiom error. I believe that the official guide takes the position that “enough that” is NOT idiomatic.

There are other interpretation errors with the other choices, but I’m moving on at this point. This question has already taken too much time out of my day lol.

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Hi AnirudhaS

I had two options left. A and D.

I don't know why but I feel A changes the meaning.

How? Option A says that you could never find a surface solid enough to stand on Saturn.. which,according to me,means that you could NEVER find any solid surface with the help of which you could stand on Saturn..

Option D is better since it uses the structure.."You could never find a surface ON SATURN that is solid enough" This is more specific. We're talking about only the surface of Saturn here.

I hope you get what I mean to say.

Secondly, I apology for my original explanation. It was too short. I had to rush somewhere else and thus typed in a hurry.

Thirdly, I just realised I tagged some other user with almost similar username. Haha. Apologies to both.

Lastly, my logic might seem stupid to you but it is what it is. I'm a learner like you and I might be completely wrong. I'd love to hear your thoughts on my logic.

Thank you.

Hi Nups1324
There is nothing to apologise as we are all learners here. By the way I went with D as well, but I could not eliminate A. I don't think your logic is stupid, all I said was I did not understand your logic. Let us wait for an expert to reply.

In option D, that is modifying the surface on Saturn.
Option D : you cant find a surface, that is solid enough to stand. so here the sentence is trying to say that you cant find a surface which has a solid enough to stand quality.
that here is trying to say that surface has a quality to stand and you cant find it on Saturn.

You cant find a car that can fly. Here ,that is referring to car and sentence is saying you cant find flying car. [can fly is referring to car not the main subject you ]

Amazing explanation!! This is proper subtle meaning issue.

IMO,
In A, "Because" is either modifying "find" or " stand" , which is ambiguous. In D because is clearly modifying "stand".

You could never find a surface solid enough to stand on Saturn because the planet is less dense than water.


(A) solid enough to stand on Saturn Keeps

(B) on Saturn where it is solid enough to stand Incorrect

Pronoun error- it refers what?

(C) where it is solid enough that you can stand on Saturn Incorrect

Pronoun error- it refers what?

changes meaning - you cant stand on saturn, but you can stand on surface on saturn

(D) on Saturn that is solid enough to stand Keeps

(E) that is so solid that one can stand on Saturn Incorrect

Redundancy error - this choice is more wordy

between A & D

A - stand on saturn sounds bad, stand on surface is better choice

B - it is more clear than A

so answer - D

Between A and D, IMO, there is a subtle meaning difference. I chose D.

A. You could never find a surface solid enough to stand on Saturn because the planet is less dense than water.
D. You could never find a surface on Saturn that is solid enough to stand because the planet is less dense than water.

Choice D is precisely communicating that you can not find any solid surface on Saturn, whereas choice A is communicating that you can not find a solid surface (anywhere in the universe) that you can use to stand on Saturn.

IMO, the intent of the sentence is much clearer with choice D.

In choice E, use of 'so solid' is far worse than 'solid enough'. Shift of subject from 'you' to 'one' is not great.

In Choice C, use of where is not correct and does not provide a clear meaning. Use of 'that' is also not clear.

In Choice B, 'where it is' can also refer to Saturn and not the surface on Saturn. Hence, not that clear.

I’ll try to explain my issue with D and the interpretation I read (again, it seems I’m most likely wrong.....I’m outvoted lol).

-D-
“You could never find a surface on Saturn that is solid enough to stand because the planet is less dense than water.”

I think we all agree that the relative pronoun “that” refers to the head of be noun phrase “SURFACE on Saturn.”

I believe the author wants to say that a person, herself, could never stand on Saturn.

When I read the “that” noun modifier/relative clause, I interpret the sentence in the following way:

There is not a “surface” ITSELF on Saturn that is solid enough to stand.

This interpretation moves the focus away from the person. It is no longer the person who can not stand. Rather, it is the “SURFACE on Saturn” that can not stand. This seems illogical and not in line with what the author is trying to say.

Although A is far from perfect, it seems to keep the focus on the human being “You.” It is the person who can not stand because the surface is not solid.

Thus, I choose A.


Regardless, this is a great discussion about the nuances of meaning interpretation. When we find out the actual answer I believe that all will benefit.

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IMO, the answer is Option A

A. No meaning or Grammer issues. [CORRECT]
B. No antecedant of 'IT' in the sentence. [WRONG]
C. No antecedant of 'IT' and the usage of 'WHERE' is wrong. 'WHERE' is used only for noun places. [WRONG]
D. 'THAT' is modifying the surface and the sentence is implying that the surface cannot stand, which is not the intended meaning. [WRONG]
E. 'THAT IS SO SOLID THAT' is not correct Idiomatically. [WRONG]

I was confused between A and D and I chose D which turned out to be wrong, could anyone as and when possible weigh in and help me understand how D is wrong and A is right?

Thank you

Hello, kntombat. I can see why you may have been confused, and why others have been as well. To be clear, there appears to be a missing preposition, on, in each answer choice. Without it, none of them make sense. Let me explain. Take a look at the original sentence:


The idea that is meant to be conveyed is that on Saturn, you could never find a surface solid enough to stand on. The preposition cannot do double duty here. Note that the following variant sentences are incorrect:

1) On Saturn, you could never find a surface solid enough to stand because...

2) Saturn, you could never find a surface solid enough to stand on because...

What the original sentence conveys is that someone (you) could not stand on the surface, but other nonsensical interpretations may be valid. You might, for instance, be able to crouch, sleep, or roll. (In other words, as long as someone does not make an attempt to stand from a seated position, the surface might hold.) Although an additional on in (A) might look strange if placed where it needs to be, it would create a more logical sentence:

3) You could never find a surface solid enough to stand on on Saturn because the planet is less dense than water.

As an alternative, you could place the prepositional phrase on Saturn at the head of the sentence:

4) On Saturn, you could never find a surface solid enough to stand on because the planet is less dense than water.

Of the options given, (A) is the most concise. But, for reasons explained above, I think it could use an edit.

- Andrew

Well stated! Kudos!



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