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Wed 12 Mar, 2014 01:17 am
Should we remove "of" from "for me it was never a matter of if I would find mistakes"?
Context:
Steve Jackman said: As an American who is a long term resident of Japan and has worked at Japanese companies here, I have long agonized at the sloppy nature of work I have witnessed at these companies. This call for retraction of the Japanese stem cell study by one of the Japanese co-autors has once again put the spotlight on this problem.
Foreigners have an image of the Japanese as very thorough, detail-oriented, and meticulous. However, my experience in Japan over more than a decade has been just the opposite of this. Things got so bad at my Japanese company that everytime I would check my Japanese subordinates’ work, for me it was never a matter of if I would find mistakes, but how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding. Many of these were due to pure sloppiness, carelessness, an inability to think independently, critically or to ask questions, a blind allegiance to protocol and heirarchy, and a fear of being perceived as a troublemaker or someone who is not a team player.
This helped me understand why Japanese companies place such importance on manuals, rules and doing things by the book, since the Japanese are usually very good at following rules that have been written down for them. This style may work well for manufacturing industries, but not for research, STEM fileds (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), or in the knowledge and service industries of the future.
No, if you removed "of" it would be incorrect.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
No, if you removed "of" it would be incorrect.
So I failed to understand "a matter of" - what does it mean?
@oristarA,
Ori: So I failed to understand "a matter of" - what does it mean?
A matter of (matter explained)
A matter of whether Ori likes vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
@JTT,
JTT wrote:
Ori: So I failed to understand "a matter of" - what does it mean?
A matter of (matter explained)
A matter of whether Ori likes vanilla or chocolate ice cream.
Thanks.
I got it as "for me it was never a matter of my concern if I would find mistakes."
Am I on the right track?
In that sentence, "of" is used appositionally to indicate the identity and explanation of "the matter" which isn't "if I would find mistakes." "The matter" is "how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding." In other words, "it was a matter of how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding."
@InfraBlue,
InfraBlue wrote:
In that sentence, "of" is used to indicate the identity and explanation of "the matter" which isn't "if I would find mistakes." "The matter" is "how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding." In other words, "it was a matter of how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding."
Got it!
"A matter of" "how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding."
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:
InfraBlue wrote:
In that sentence, "of" is used to indicate the identity and explanation of "the matter" which isn't "if I would find mistakes." "The matter" is "how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding." In other words, "it was a matter of how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding."
Got it!
"A matter of" "how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding."
for me it was never a matter of
if I would find mistakes, but how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding
Remove the part in red we can get the essence.
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:
oristarA wrote:
InfraBlue wrote:
In that sentence, "of" is used to indicate the identity and explanation of "the matter" which isn't "if I would find mistakes." "The matter" is "how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding." In other words, "it was a matter of how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding."
Got it!
"A matter of" "how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding."
for me it was never a matter of
if I would find mistakes, but how many mistakes would I eventually end up finding
Remove the part in red we can get the essence.
Exactly, the writer is saying, "the matter isn't this; the matter is that."
It's a matter of right or wrong.
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