individuals are now offering to deliver groceries

[GoodTaste]

From the text, can you see whether the individuals are volunteers? Or are paid? Because the work of offering can be of paid nature.


---------------------
Human beings, when left to their own devices, are not only cooperative, but generous. Numerous individuals are now offering to deliver groceries for elderly or immunocompromised neighbors who are at greater risk of severe complications from the virus. Private charity is stepping up to offer COVID-19 testing kits. That’s all the more important considering that the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has come up short by refusing to test many potential cases and only recently lifting a ban on allowing private labs to test for the virus despite severe shortage in the government’s own testing capacity.

Source: Human Progress https://humanprogress.org/article.php?p=2501

 

[jutfrank]

They're volunteers. That's why they're described as generous.

 

[GoesStation]

And why private charity is mentioned in the next sentence.

 

[Tarheel]

You seem to think that the "offering to deliver groceries" is part of the work. It isn't. You get paid (or not) for delivering the groceries.

 

[SoothingDave]

I think he's just confused because we do speak of "making an offer" when we propose to be paid for something.

 

[jutfrank]

I think he's just confused because we do speak of "making an offer" when we propose to be paid for something.

Possibly, but the passage does not include the phrase make an offer. The verb offer is used twice.

Because the work of offering can be of paid nature.

I don't understand what GoodTaste means here.

 

[SoothingDave]

The point is that "offer" is used in phrases like "make an offer." It is also used in ways like "Ford is now offering the Escape in all wheel drive."