Can you understand the logic?

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The author says: The few pedestrians on the streets are mostly unmasked, confirming fears that public awareness of the health risks are low.

Low? Should it be high?
Because on the streets there are only very few people (pedestrians) there, while most people stay indoors. So the public awareness of the health risks of smog is high.

If you argue that the few pedestrians are mostly unmasked, so their awareness of the risks is low. Yes, it is true. But not true in the context of general public.

Or you may argue it says "fears are low" (not the awareness are low). Yes, and it is only for the few pedestrians, not for general public (most of them stay indoors!)

So, how to understand the logic?

Context:

(Barely) living in smog: China and air pollutionThe Lancet

There are few cities in the world where the first thing you do on waking is check the air quality app on your mobile phone—even before switching off the alarm. Beijing is such a city. On Feb 25, Beijing had been shrouded in heavy smog and hazardous levels of respirable fine particulate matter (PM2·5) for 6 consecutive days. That morning the PM2·5 level read 383 μg/m3, which is 15 times the recommended safe WHO limit (25 μg/m3 for 24-h PM2·5), but not the worst reported in a week when levels soared to 500 μg/m3. You wake your young child who you have kept at home for 2 days and switch the air purifiers up to high. You explain that at school today they will stay inside to play. Outside, the air is smoky and the sky a sunless thick grey yellow. A sheet of dust covers most vehicles and surfaces and you can almost taste it through your face mask. You call a taxi for a school run that on clear days is a 20 min walk. The driver can see no more than 150 metres ahead in the haze. The few pedestrians on the streets are mostly unmasked, confirming fears that public awareness of the health risks are low, or that some simply do not have the choice. There is a lone jogger ignoring the orange alert (the second highest level in a four-tiered system) issued for the very first time by the Beijing Environmental Bureau, closing industrial plants and advising people to stay indoors and to refrain from exercise.

MOre:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2814%2960427-X/fulltext

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View best answer, chosen by oristarA

The author(s) is simply saying that it appears, from the lack of pedestrians on the street wearing masks, that the public awareness of the health implications of the air pollution is low, or that the pedestrians one sees have no choice about being out in the smog. Whether or not one agrees with the conclusions has no bearing on whether or not the author(s) has expressed him- or herself logically in English. You may argue that the conclusion reached is unwarranted because other factors were not considered--but that is not a judgment on whether or not the idea was expressed logically in English.

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

The author(s) is simply saying that it appears, from the lack of pedestrians on the street wearing masks, that the public awareness of the health implications of the air pollution is low, or that the pedestrians one sees have no choice about being out in the smog. Whether or not one agrees with the conclusions has no bearing on whether or not the author(s) has expressed him- or herself logically in English. You may argue that the conclusion reached is unwarranted because other factors were not considered--but that is not a judgment on whether or not the idea was expressed logically in English.

If the author wrote "perhaps suggesting fears" instead of "confirming fears ", it might be better.
What is your opinion?

Besides, "public awareness are low" is ungrammatical. It should be "public awareness is low."

1 Reply

@oristarA,

I have no opinion on the writing style, with which i find no fault.

Your source is The Lancet, which is a British journal. The British frequently employ ostensibly singular nouns as plural nouns. "The staff are not convinced that it is a good idea." "The committee refuse to open the matter again." Although i find "public awareness" an odd candidate for such a plural noun construction, it is entirely possible that the British have no problem with it. At the same time, it might be a common fault one sees in English writing, in which the author(s) thoughtlessly made the verb "to be" agree in number with "risks," rather than "public awareness."

2 Replies

@oristarA,

Quote:

The few pedestrians on the streets are mostly unmasked, confirming fears that public awareness of the health risks are low, or that some simply do not have the choice

You are correct oristarA in observing that the sentence is completely contradictory and illogical.

Perhaps the the errors arose because the editor was trying to capture too much information in one sentence.

There are few pedestrians on the streets.
Of those few on streets, most have no masks indicating a lack of awareness of the health risks, by those commuters.
Those few that are on the streets may be there because they have no choice but to be on the streets.

1 Reply

@knaivete,

knaivete wrote:

Quote:
The few pedestrians on the streets are mostly unmasked, confirming fears that public awareness of the health risks are low, or that some simply do not have the choice

You are correct oristarA in observing that the sentence is completely contradictory and illogical.

Perhaps the the errors arose because the editor was trying to capture too much information in one sentence.

There are few pedestrians on the streets.
Of those few on streets, most have no masks indicating a lack of awareness of the health risks, by those commuters.
Those few that are on the streets may be there because they have no choice but to be on the streets.

Excellent!
Thank you both.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

I have no opinion on the writing style, with which i find no fault.

Your source is The Lancet, which is a British journal. The British frequently employ ostensibly singular nouns as plural nouns. "The staff are not convinced that it is a good idea." "The committee refuse to open the matter again." Although i find "public awareness" an odd candidate for such a plural noun construction, it is entirely possible that the British have no problem with it. At the same time, it might be a common fault one sees in English writing, in which the author(s) thoughtlessly made the verb "to be" agree in number with "risks," rather than "public awareness."

Good point!
Where are Contrex and McTag? We need you.
Of course non-British will be welcomed here.

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@oristarA,

Quote:

The few pedestrians on the streets are mostly unmasked, confirming fears (of health officials) that public awareness of the health risks are low.

Health officials fear the public is not aware of the health risk and this confirms that the awareness is low because no one is taking precautions.

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Air quality in China is terrible. My daughter was telling me that if you get caught out in the rain your clothes have to go straight in the wash because they stink. It sounds like the notorious London smogs of the 1950s.

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Quote:

confirming fears that public awareness of the health risks are low

This is just plain wrong. The singular 'is' should be used.

0 Replies

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Although i find "public awareness" an odd candidate for such a plural noun construction, it is entirely possible that the British have no problem with it.

We have just as large a problem with a gross error like that as do other native speakers.

Quote:

At the same time, it might be a common fault one sees in English writing, in which the author(s) thoughtlessly made the verb "to be" agree in number with "risks," rather than "public awareness."

I find this a more convincing explanation. Although the Lancet is widely regarded as a 'British' publication, it is a global entity these days. It was owned by Reed IPC, a British company, which merged in 1991 with Elsevier, a Dutch company. The Reed Elsevier group has operations in every continent. The Lancet has editorial offices in London, New York, and Beijing. There is something about the prose style of the linked article which suggests that the author is not a native speaker of English.

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

There is something about the prose style of the linked article which suggests that the author is not a native speaker of English.

I think that is highly likely, but one doesn't like to say that without good cause.

1 Reply

@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

I think that is highly likely, but one doesn't like to say that without good cause.

The abrupt switches between conversational and formal styles made me wonder whether the writer was not native born. There is an odd stilted quality to the whole thing, even the chatty parts.

0 Replies

Can you understand the logic?

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