Question

In this activity, you'll read a sentence from the Old Testament's Ecclesiastes. You will also read George Orwell's revision of the sentence, which he designed to illustrate bad habits he found in the written work of his time. Carefully compare the two versions of the sentence. Describe what Orwell changed, in terms of word choice and sentence structure, as well as tone and implied purpose or audience. Before you formulate your answer in paragraph form, you might want to take notes (below or elsewhere) comparing the two versions of the sentence in terms of word choice, sentence structure, tone, and implied audience and purpose.

The sentence from Ecclesiastes:
I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth.

Orwell's revision in "modern English of the worst sort":
Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

Answer 1

In Orwell's revision of the sentence from Ecclesiastes, he made several changes in terms of word choice, sentence structure, tone, and implied purpose or audience.

Word choice: 1. Orwell used more formal and abstract language in his revision compared to the original sentence from Ecclesiastes. 2. He replaced specific words like "race," "swift," "strong," "wise," "riches," "understanding," "favor," "skill," "time," and "chance" with more general terms like "contemporary phenomena," "success or failure in competitive activities," "innate capacity," and "element of the unpredictable."

Sentence structure: 1. The original sentence from Ecclesiastes is structured in a list-like format, while Orwell's revision is a more complex sentence with subordinated clauses. 2. Orwell's sentence has a more formal structure with a subject ("Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena") and a verb ("compels"), followed by additional clauses and phrases.

Tone: 1. The tone of the original sentence from Ecclesiastes is contemplative and reflective. 2. Orwell's revision has a more analytical and objective tone, using formal language to convey a sense of academic or scholarly discourse.

Implied purpose or audience: 1. The original sentence from Ecclesiastes is part of a religious text and is likely intended for a spiritual or moral audience. 2. Orwell's revision seems to be designed to critique and illustrate the bad habits he found in contemporary written work. It is aimed at a more intellectual audience who may be interested in analyzing and understanding the flaws in writing of the time.

Overall, Orwell's revision of the sentence from Ecclesiastes involves changing the language, sentence structure, tone, and implied purpose or audience. These changes result in a more formal, abstract, and analytical sentence that serves as a critique of writing styles prevalent during Orwell's time.

Answer 2

This is the answer given on plato edmentum:

Step-by-step explanation:

Your answer should include some of the following observations.

°Original has mostly one-syllable words, several two-syllable words, and a couple of three-syllable words. Original words are less abstract. Revised words have many syllables and prefixes and suffixes and seem more abstract, less like common words.

°Original uses the first person, I. The revision doesn't use humans as subjects. Revision uses abstract nouns as subjects, and it uses passive constructions.

°Original forms a list of observations (of what does not happen), then concludes with a contrast (chance). The revision starts with a long phrase to form the subject of the first clause, followed by another long phrase to convey what is in the list of observations. The revision then uses a compound conjunction (but) to set off the contrast. The original describes four distinct aspects of human life, while the revision clumps them all into "competitive activities."

°Original uses nouns, adjectives, and verbs alone, often in a metaphorical form that indicates whole groups of people. The revision has a lot of adjectives with nouns. The adjectives and nouns have many syllables.

°Original seems to be poetic in tone, designed for a thinking audience, probably not a modern one. The revision seems to be trying to impress the reader with a large vocabulary, and it is not friendly to the audience.