I am not sure which to choose 'understand, understood, ~understandably'.

[sykang97]

Hi, teachers.
I am not sure which to choose 'understand, understood, understandable or understandably' in this sentence.
I have no answer, so I need your opinions.
Please help.
Thank you.

Visitors are delighted by a meteor shower every year and -------- so.
(A) understand (B) understandable (C) understood (D) understandably

 

[Matthew Wai]

(D) understandably

Not a teacher.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Sykang:

Mr. Wai has already given you the answer.

I am replying because your sentence greatly interested me.

1. First, it is important to identify the parts of speech: understand (= the infinitive or base form); understandable (= the adjective); understood (= the past tense); and understandably (= the adverb).

2. In my OPINION, your sentence is a shorter (and more natural) way to say something like:

"Visitors are delighted by a meteor shower every year, and they understandably are delighted by a meteor shower every year."

a. As you can see, it would sound strange to speak / write like that.

3. Thus, I feel that the shorter sentence is something like:

"Visitors are delighted by a meteor shower every year, and they understandably are so."

a. "so," I feel, means something like "that."

i. "That" refers to the idea of being delighted by a meteor shower every year.

4. But even that sentence is too long, so we delete (drop) some words and we get your sentence:

"Visitors are delighted by a meteor shower every year, and (they) understandably (are) so."

a. We need the adverb "understandably" because:

i. Some people would say it modifies the verb "are."

ii. Other people would say it modifies the whole sentence "they are so."




James

 

[Matthew Wai]

We need the adverb "understandably" because ... it modifies the verb "are."

I guess it modifies the word 'so' and I may say 'they are understandably so', am I wrong?

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Mr. Wai:


You believe that "understandably" modifies "so."

Of course, I cannot say that you are right or wrong. You may, indeed, be right.

When I first read the OP's sentence, I, too, thought that "understandably" modified "so."

But there is a problem: while dictionaries do, indeed, parse "so" as an adverb in that kind of sentence, other dictionaries parse it as a pronoun in that kind of sentence. (I choose to believe the latter.)

In any case, I do feel that "understandably so" is an ELLIPSIS of a much longer sentence.

I suggested one possibility.

I am VERY eager to hear what you think the "complete" sentence may be.

This whole matter confuses me, and understandably so!


James

 

[Matthew Wai]

'This whole matter confuses me, and the matter is understandably confusing to me!'
Is it possible?

Not a teacher.