A sentence that reads "Power properly understood is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose"confused me,
Does it say"it is properly understood that power is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose"?
Hope you help to figure this out,thank you
2006-10-20 02:36:23 · 6 answers · asked by Gone Car 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Not quite, Gone Car. You're very close, but not quite there. I like the answers given by brendagho and Love Shepherd above. In addition to sometimes leaving out words we often, when writing, also leave out punctuation. You probably would have better understood this sentence if two commas had not been removed. Replacing those two commas, we get,
"Power, properly understood, is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose."
Truth be told, this is really a rather vague statement because of the highly abstract terms "power" and "purpose." I'm not surprised you're having some difficulty with it. I have some difficulty with it myself. I hope whoever wrote that sentence goes on to better explain just what he means. Above, brendagho does a very good job of it. It would be good also if the author gave some specific examples to illustrate his rather complex thought.
What are you reading, anyway? This can't simply be from an English language study text. It sounds like it's from a political science book or such.
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2006-10-20 07:17:24 · answer #1 · answered by Seeker 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Power, properly understood, is nothing but the ability to achieve purpose.
Meaning 'Power, WHEN IT IS properly understood, .....
2006-10-21 06:49:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It says that POWER IS THE ABILITY TO ACHIEVE PURPOSE (If we understand power properly)
2006-10-20 09:50:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It says that when you understand power in the correct way power is only having the ability to do or get whatever you want done. That is your purpose.
2006-10-20 10:19:23 · answer #4 · answered by brendagho 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We often take out words from sentences.
Like, "John, my boss, is tall."
The longer version is "John, who is my boss, is tall.
The longer version of the sentence you have might be, "Power, when the term "power" is properly understood, is nothing...."
What it means then is if you really understand the meaning of "power," you will know that it is simply the ability to achieve purpose.
2006-10-20 10:32:54 · answer #5 · answered by Love Shepherd 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i think it means if you have power you will be able to do what ever you want if it has a purpose??
i hope that helped
2006-10-20 09:40:46 · answer #6 · answered by maya 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋