[Idiom] I need help with interpreting a specific sentence.

[oldbei]

I am not sure how to interpret the following sentence. It doesn't mean much to me although I think that I know each of the words. Please help.

And, as Tan says, "There you are! The truth or fallacy of Pons Asinorum is submitted to the judgement of the students who will kindly pass in their examination papers to the professor."

 

[Tarheel]

He wants the students to turn in their examination papers. (Other than that, who knows?)

 

[oldbei]

He wants the students to turn in their examination papers. (Other than that, who knows?)

The main sentence is about judgement.

 

[Raymott]

"In geometry, the statement that the angles opposite the equal sides of an isosceles triangle are themselves equal is known as the pons asinorum, Latin for "bridge of donkeys".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pons_asinorum
So, it refers to the truth or falsity of that statement, which apparently the students have been tested on.
It's still a bizarre sentence because of lack of an understandable flow of tenses/events. And I think 'fallacy' should be 'falsity'. Generally things are true or false, not true or fallacious. If something isn't fallacious, it's sound (and valid).

 

[jawgar]

The fragment is unclear without extra context.

"And, as Tan says" - who is saying this? Are they quoting Tan? This is the inference from "As X says"


The reported speech commences with an affirmation that is without much meaning "There you are!" - similar to "See?"

The remaining speech is somewhat ungrammatical and clumsily joins two unrelated ideas. It would be clearer as:

The truth, or fallacy, of Pons Asinorum has been submitted to the students for their judgement.
The students must give their answers on the exam papers and give them to the professor.

 

[oldbei]

Hi guys,

Thank you for your responses.

Let me offer a little more info about the quoted text.

The text is from a book written in America in 1903. Does that make the text appear to be "bizarre" to the modern reader?

Tan is supposed to be an author living in China 4000 years ago, according to the writer of the text that I quoted. The text is the ending paragraph of a segment called "squaring the cirle." In the segment, the writer compares Tan with Euclid and claims that, like Euclid, Tan has also offered many propositions for the student to judge. Then, the writer introduces a "squaring the cirle" method using Tan's words. Basically, it's a geometric method to figure out the area of a circle. By using the method, we can get that the area of a circle is 3/4 of the area of the square that immediately surrounds the circle. (Obviously, the method is wrong, but the writer does not point it out directly.) He concludes the segment after the introduction of the method with the text that I copied and here it is once again:

And, as Tan says, "There you are! The truth or fallacy of Pons Asinorum is submitted to the judgement of the students who will kindly pass in their examination papers to the professor."

Does the text make better sense to you now? If necessary, I can copy more text from the segment. Let me know.

Thanks for your time and effort.

Best regards,

Max

P.s., neither the students nor the professor have been mentioned anywhere else in the book.

 

[oldbei]

Why did the writer write "as Tan says" instead of "Tan says?" By using "as Tan says", did the writer suggest that he could have used some other words to express the same meaning?

"There you are" here means something like "now you've got it" or "now this is apparent?"

 

[Tarheel]

To me it is like you are taking an algebra class and the teacher says to the students: "Now you decide if this is right or wrong." (Huh?)

Re:

Obviously, the method is wrong, but the writer does not point it out directly.

​

Who is it obvious to? (Not me, but I am no math whiz.)

 

[oldbei]

Thanks, Tarheel.

You mean the original text is just a fancy way to say "now you [as the reader] decide if this is right or wrong?"

Can we interpret “students who kindly pass in their exam papers to the professor” as "good students?"

Here is the full context of the original text.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, don't expect me to understand the math. (That's Raymott's department.) However, I am now convinced that that last sentence, although it is put within quote marks, is not a quote at all. (Don't ask me why the writer did that. How would I know?)

 

[oldbei]

Thanks, Tarheel.

This is also my understanding of the segment.

- First, the author makes a general statement: Tan's book provides food for thought;
- then, he cites an example, which is "squaring the circle," using Tan's words; and
- the last sentence is an effort to return to the general statement.

Let me paraphrase the last sentence and see if I can grasp its meaning:

At this juncture, Tan would say: "Am I right, or am I wrong? A good student should be able to draw his or her own conclusion!"

 

[Raymott]

Well, don't expect me to understand the math. (That's Raymott's department.)

I'm no maths wiz - though I did go to school back in the days when maths teachers actually understood maths, and taught it.

 

[oldbei]

I'm no maths wiz - though I did go to school back in the days when maths teachers actually understood maths, and taught it.

So, Raymott, what do you think of my interpretation? Is it supposed to be apparent to the reader that there is something wrong in the "squaring the circle" example? What about the tone of the writing? Does the writer try to pull the reader's leg?

 

[Tarheel]

Thanks, Tarheel.

This is also my understanding of the segment.

- First, the author makes a general statement: Tan's book provides food for thought;
- then, he cites an example, which is "squaring the circle," using Tan's words; and
- the last sentence is an effort to return to the general statement.

Let me paraphrase the last sentence and see if I can grasp its meaning:

At this juncture, Tan would say: "Am I right, or am I wrong? A good student should be able to draw his or her own conclusion!"

The author seems to be saying that if the student has been well-taught that he should be able to understand what is being said. Thus, he can draw his own conclusion because he understands the material.