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combined? What to be combined here?

Forums: Grammar, Esl, English
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oristarA
 
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 05:05 am
Well, I feel it is necessary to post this question as another thread because it is either the writing is awkward or hard to understand:



Context:

ScienceDaily (July 14, 2011) — The power to edit genes is as revolutionary, immediately useful and unlimited in its potential as was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press. And like Gutenberg's invention, most DNA editing tools are slow, expensive, and hard to use -- a brilliant technology in its infancy. Now, Harvard researchers developing genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and replace -- and combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears.
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contrex
 
  2  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 05:41 am
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:

Well, I feel it is necessary to post this question as another thread because it is either the writing is awkward or hard to understand:


"Harvard researchers developing genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and replace -- combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears."

Pretty easy to understand, surely. "Those" refers to some plural things referred to immediately before. Let's look immediately before, to see what "rewrites" were referred to. Aha! Harvard researchers have rewritten the genome of living cells in a way compared to rewriting text in a word processor.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 06:49 am
@contrex,
contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:

Well, I feel it is necessary to post this question as another thread because it is either the writing is awkward or hard to understand:


"Harvard researchers developing genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and replace -- combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears."

Pretty easy to understand, surely. "Those" refers to some plural things referred to immediately before. Let's look immediately before, to see what "rewrites" were referred to. Aha! Harvard researchers have rewritten the genome of living cells in a way compared to rewriting text in a word processor.



　　So "combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears." should be expressed as: combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, thus made the "novel cell strains" strikingly different from their original states?"　　　


contrex
 
  2  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 07:30 am
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:
So "combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears." should be expressed as: combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, thus made the "novel cell strains" strikingly different from their original states?"　　　


I prefer to express the meaning thus:

"...combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, [which are] strikingly different from their forebears."

"Forebears" means "parents and ancestors".


oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 08:01 am
@contrex,
contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:
So "combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears." should be expressed as: combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, thus made the "novel cell strains" strikingly different from their original states?"　　　


I prefer to express the meaning thus:

"...combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, [which are] strikingly different from their forebears."

"Forebears" means "parents and ancestors".





The confusion is: the (genome of) living cells on which the researchers have rewritten are the forebears of themselves.

If you rewrote Cell A, the rewritten cell is the child of the cell A?

I cannot help laughing at it.


oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 08:07 am
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:

Well, I feel it is necessary to post this question as another thread because it is either the writing is awkward or hard to understand:


"Harvard researchers developing genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and replace -- combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears."

Pretty easy to understand, surely. "Those" refers to some plural things referred to immediately before. Let's look immediately before, to see what "rewrites" were referred to. Aha! Harvard researchers have rewritten the genome of living cells in a way compared to rewriting text in a word processor.



　　So "combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears." should be expressed as: combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, thus made the "novel cell strains" strikingly different from their original states?"　　　





So the rewrites are the rewritten genome of the living cells? The researchers took out the genome and then implanted them into novel cell strains? It seems a mess.
0 Replies
 
contrex
 
  2  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 08:15 am
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:
So "combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears." should be expressed as: combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, thus made the "novel cell strains" strikingly different from their original states?"　　　


I prefer to express the meaning thus:

"...combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, [which are] strikingly different from their forebears."

"Forebears" means "parents and ancestors".




The confusion is: the (genome of) living cells on which the researchers have rewritten are the forebears of themselves.
If you rewrote Cell A, the rewritten cell is the child of the cell A?
I cannot help laughing at it.


The confusion is yours. Your laughter is badly misplaced. You have misunderstood the English text. The genome of a cell is the entirety of that cell's hereditary information. By altering the genome it is possible to make the cell's offspring different from their forebears.

Look up in a dictionary:

genome
offspring
forebear


Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 08:18 am
Forebears can also mean retired members of the Chicago National Football League team.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 09:20 am
@contrex,
Got it.
Thanks.
0 Replies
 
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 09:24 am
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:

Forebears can also mean retired members of the Chicago National Football League team.


Football is cool. It reminds me of Oregan Ducks and Miami Dolphins.

But Set, the question remains: So the rewrites are the rewritten genome of the living cells? The researchers took out the genome and then implanted them into novel cell strains? It seems a mess.
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 09:32 am
@oristarA,
Given that you are confusing genes and a genome, i'm not surprised it seemed a mess to you.
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 09:34 am
By the way, the Oregon Ducks are a college football team, and the Miami Dolphins are a professional, National Football League team. The team from the University of Miami are called the Hurricanes.
0 Replies
 
contrex
 
  2  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 11:37 am
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:

Given that you are confusing genes and a genome, i'm not surprised it seemed a mess to you.


I have tried explaining this to him, but he either didn't get it, or does not trust me any more. I thought you were his favourite these days, but he distrusted you enough to start a new thread, didn't he?
0 Replies
 
Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 02:05 pm
Oh, i've had my contretemps with Oristar, bitter enough that for several weeks i wouldn't even look into an Oristar thread.
contrex
 
  2  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 05:29 pm
@Setanta,
He's training to be a doctor, isn't he? I would feel sorry for his compatriots, but I guess there's not exactly a shortage of them.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 09:01 pm
@contrex,
contrex wrote:

Setanta wrote:

Given that you are confusing genes and a genome, i'm not surprised it seemed a mess to you.


I have tried explaining this to him, but he either didn't get it, or does not trust me any more. I thought you were his favourite these days, but he distrusted you enough to start a new thread, didn't he?



contrex wrote:

He's training to be a doctor, isn't he? I would feel sorry for his compatriots, but I guess there's not exactly a shortage of them.



Look on the bright side, guys, because from this tumultuous situation your replies have actually enlightened me.

It is simply a problem about grammar. Sometimes English baby talks might have trapped our English professors in China, simply because they don't have the experience with foreign infants (supposed you've mastered Chinese language, you may encounter the situation of the embarrassment also).

I started that question in a new thread with good intention: because Setanta is always free to make an answer or not. He's not responsible to reply. Plus, making a new thread may accelerate the speed of solving the question.

Thus it doesn't raise a situation about trust or mistrust.







0 Replies
 
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sat 16 Jul, 2011 09:05 pm
Regarding the understanding of the "combined," I believe the author meant:

All those rewrites, combined together, have made the cells novel ones which are very different from their parents.
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Jul, 2011 12:07 am
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:

Regarding the understanding of the "combined," I believe the author meant:

All those rewrites, combined together, have made the cells novel ones which are very different from their parents.


So you didn't understand the meaning of "combined"?

oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Jul, 2011 12:36 am
@contrex,
contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:

Regarding the understanding of the "combined," I believe the author meant:

All those rewrites, combined together, have made the cells novel ones which are very different from their parents.


So you didn't understand the meaning of "combined"?




Yeah, that's why the title of the thread has expressed.

Go ahead please.
0 Replies
 
contrex
 
  1  
Reply Sun 17 Jul, 2011 01:31 am
Combine is a verb; it means to bring together, mix, join, assemble etc.

To make a cake you combine eggs, flour, sugar etc.

used with object:

to bring into or join in a close union or whole; unite: She combined the ingredients to make the cake. They combined the two companies.

to possess or exhibit in union: a plan that combines the best features of several other plans.

used without object:

to unite; coalesce: The clay combined with the water to form a thick paste.

to unite for a common purpose; join forces: After the two factions combined, they proved invincible.

to enter into chemical union.
 

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