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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / March 2005Sentence scrutiny
Is this sentence a student wrote correct? What transfer the power from the sources to the guide-ways are coils, which are a unique magnetic field system. >Is this sentence a student wrote correct? > > What transfer the power from the sources to the guide-ways are >coils, which are a unique magnetic field system. No. Not only is the sentence not correct, I don't think he has the technology correct either. Hi and thanks, Would you explain exactly why the sentence is not correct? Thank you. Howard Thank you John. That's where I thought the problem in the sentence was, but (1) isn't coils the real subject of "are," meaning that "are" is correct and (2) doesn't "what" at the start of the sentence refer to the coils, making "transfer" also correct? I'm not sure, but couldn't the sentence be reworked as "Coils, which are a unique magnetic field system, are what transfer the power from the sources to the guide-ways? This is the source of my original doubt, so I wanted to state it fully. Thank you. Howard > I'm not sure, but couldn't the sentence be reworked as "Coils, which >are a unique magnetic field system, are what transfer the power from >the sources to the guide-ways? As an English sentence, that's acceptable. Technically it's nonsense. Coils are found everywhere in electrical and electronic systems, and are therefor not unique. Nor in this case are they being used to transfer power. Of course if this is just an exercise in the construction of a sentence, you may not care about that. >>What transfer the power from the sources to the guide-ways are >>coils, which are a unique magnetic field system. > Technically it's nonsense. > Coils are found everywhere in electrical and electronic systems, and > are therefor not unique. Nor in this case are they being used to > transfer power. Of course if this is just an exercise in the > construction of a sentence, you may not care about that. These are not coils that are unique, but the magnetic field system. Make a tube of coils, and put a magnet inside. If several conditions are fulfilled, you may accelerate the magnet, and increase its kinetic energy. Thus transfer the energy from some source to the magnet. T. D. PS. Would you mind correcting my language mistakes, if there are any? >>>What transfer the power from the sources to the guide-ways are >>>coils, which are a unique magnetic field system. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >These are not coils that are unique, but the magnetic field system. Yes. >Make a tube of coils, and put a magnet inside. If several conditions >are fulfilled, you may accelerate the magnet, and increase its >kinetic energy. Thus transfer the energy from some source >to the magnet. But a transfer of power is not what's unique. It's using this system to levitate an move a train that's unique. To summarize: Cables are used to transfer power from a power supply to a system of coils. These coils are so arranged as to not only levitate the train so it has no physical contract with the guiderail, but also cause it to accelerate down the guideway and to brake when necessary. >PS. Would you mind correcting my language mistakes, if there are any? You might have said: "It is not the coils that are unique, but the magnetic field system." Or "It is not the coils but the magnetic field system that is unique." >>>>What transfer the power from the sources to the guide-ways are >>>>coils, which are a unique magnetic field system. >>Make a tube of coils, and put a magnet inside. If several conditions >>are fulfilled, you may accelerate the magnet, and increase its [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > But a transfer of power is not what's unique. It's using this system > to levitate an move a train that's unique. I only claim that the sentence is technically OK. The unique magnetic field system transfers energy from the sources indeed. > To summarize: Cables are used to transfer power from a power supply to > a system of coils. These coils are so arranged as to not only levitate > the train so it has no physical contract with the guiderail, but also > cause it to accelerate down the guideway and to brake when necessary. It does not contradict the above. > You might have said: "It is not the coils that are unique, but the > magnetic field system." This was my doubt. Thank you. Was my version incorrect, or just clumsy? T. D. >>>>>What transfer the power from the sources to the guide-ways are >>>>>coils, which are a unique magnetic field system. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >I only claim that the sentence is technically OK. The unique magnetic >field system transfers energy from the sources indeed. But a transfer of energy is not the goal. Moving the train is. Your explanation has the wrong emphasis. >> To summarize: Cables are used to transfer power from a power supply to >> a system of coils. These coils are so arranged as to not only levitate >> the train so it has no physical contract with the guiderail, but also >> cause it to accelerate down the guideway and to brake when necessary. > >It does not contradict the above. But addresses the subject more pertinently. >> You might have said: "It is not the coils that are unique, but the >> magnetic field system." > >This was my doubt. Thank you. >Was my version incorrect, or just clumsy? Both, but not so badly that it could not be understood. John Ings wrote: > >Is this sentence a student wrote correct? > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Not only is the sentence not correct, I don't think he has the > technology correct either. Adding an 's' to transfer makes the sentence more grammatical. Probably should be 'is' rather than 'are'. As for the technology: consider the ferrite rod/induction coil radio antenna which does effectively combine magnetism and coils. Or all the stuff Tesla did with inductance coils -:) John Ramsay >> >Is this sentence a student wrote correct? >> > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >Probably should be 'is' rather than 'are'. Resulting in " What transfers the power from the sources to the guide-ways are coils, which is a unique magnetic field system." I presume the Maglev system is what he's talking about. See http://www.acmaglev.com/technology.htm Cables would be used to move power from the power sources to the coils. The coils are used to levitate the train, not transfer power to the guide way. |
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