Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Nov 2007:30 AM PST
-08:30 AM PST
Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
Nov 2211:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Do RC/MSR passages scare you? e-GMAT is conducting a masterclass to help you learn – Learn effective reading strategies Tackle difficult RC & MSR with confidence Excel in timed test environment- Nov 23
11:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease. 
Nov 2510:00 AM EST
-11:00 AM EST
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors.
12 Mar 2018, 02:25
Kudos
Bookmarks
This sentence appeared in a article in "The Economist". I am not able to understand the meaning, Can someone please explain the meaning of the sentence along with antecedents of pronouns.
"TO HEAR Italy’s politicians tell it, the country is, if not quite out of the woods, then at least emerging into an unexpected clearing, blinking gratefully."
"TO HEAR Italy’s politicians tell it, the country is, if not quite out of the woods, then at least emerging into an unexpected clearing, blinking gratefully."
Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Verbal Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block below for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
15 Mar 2018, 17:59
Kudos
Bookmarks
sandesh87
sandesh87 , this sentence uses personification (making something not human have human attributes), idiom, and metaphor.
Bear with me. Please imagine that the country, Italy, is a person. (It's a stylistic device. BTW, just to be sure: Personification is never allowed on SC.)
With one exception (the phrase "to hear tell"), the sentence means:
Italian politicians say that Italy is almost free from dangerous problems with which it has been struggling. The Italian politicians do not claim the country is completely safe. Rather, the country found an unexpected way to diminish some of the danger. In addition, until recently, Italy was nearly blinded by its dangerous problems; the country battled against those problems with very little insight or perceptiveness. When the danger diminished quite a bit, Italy found itself in a safer place with clearer vision.
• "to hear tell" means to be told X by someone.
• "not quite out of the woods" means "not quite out of danger" (a forest = the woods, which are dense with trees and darkness and wild animals. The woods contain danger. It is easy to get lost. It is hard to see. It is hard to find one's way out.)
• A clearing is a place in a dense forest ("in the woods") where there are no trees and hence plenty of light. A clearing is safer than a dense forest.
If a person is "in the clear," in English, the person is out of danger.
With respect to the sentences in blue and the sentence in the article: Italian politicians have said words similar to those sentences in blue. The Italian politicians' words, idiomatically, are straightforward. Here is a very simplified version of what the Italian politicians said:
"We were in danger, we caught a lucky break, we are mostly out of danger, and we can see how to get out of danger, although we are a bit dazed."
As mentioned, in one instance, the sentence might not be straightforward.
"To hear tell" means "to be told by someone," or "to hear about."
It is very old-fashioned.
The way it is used here suggests that the author doubts what the Italian politicians say.
The author might be saying, "The way the Italians tell the story about their country is X. I am not sure I believe X."
I stress the phrase "might be saying."
The author might just be using an old-fashioned phrase for no reason.
Or she might be conveying doubt about the veracity of the Italian politicians. I cannot be certain.
(That said, good writers in good publications such as The Economist almost never do things -- such as using an old-fashioned phrase -- without reason.
I am 90 percent certain she means to convey doubt about what the Italian politicians said.)
I hope that helps.
Archived Topic
Hi there,
This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Verbal Questions Forum
Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block above for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.
Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!
