manifests their feelings

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

Hello, everyone. I want to say advertising won't make people feel insecure. People who are insecure are already insecure before watching an ad. Ads can only make them realize how insecure they are. Is 'manifest' the correct verb? Thanks.


They are already insecure before watching an advertisement; it can only manifests their feelings.

 

[GoesStation]

They are already insecure before watching an advertisement; it [STRIKE]can[/STRIKE] only manifests their feelings.

If you're going to use "manifest" you have to say an advertisement can manifest or manifests their feelings. It's not the right verb, though. I think you want to say something like watching ads brings their feelings to the surface.

 

[teechar]

What is the connection between watching ads and feeling insecure?

 

[Phaedrus]

What is the connection between watching ads and feeling insecure?

If watching an ad makes you feel that you need what it advertises, it also produces the sense that you don't presently have everything you need.

I think that feeling one doesn't have everything one needs could be described as a feeling of insecurity.

Hello, everyone. I want to say advertising won't make people feel insecure. People who are insecure are already insecure before watching an ad. Ads can only make them realize how insecure they are. Is 'manifest' the correct verb? Thanks.


They are already insecure before watching an advertisement; it can only manifests their feelings.

I'm a Chubby Baby, I recommend:

They are already insecure before watching an advertisement; the advertisement can only play upon their feelings of insecurity.

 

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

They are already insecure before watching an advertisement; the advertisement can only play upon their feelings of insecurity.

Thanks, Phaedrus. Could you explain why you repeated 'advertisement' instead of using the pronoun 'it'?

Can I say this:
They are already insecure before watching an advertisement; it can only play upon their feelings of insecurity.

 

[Phaedrus]

Thanks, Phaedrus. Could you explain why you repeated 'advertisement' instead of using the pronoun 'it'?

Can I say this:
They are already insecure before watching an advertisement; it can only play upon their feelings of insecurity.

Good question. I asked myself the same question and decided that "the advertisement" just seemed clearer to me than "it." Now that I am analyzing it, I see that "it" could alternatively refer to "watching an advertisement," the object of the preposition "before."

 

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

What if I use the advertisement instead of an advertisement? I just repeat 'the advertisement'? Does it sound good?

They are already insecure before watching the advertisement; the advertisement can only play upon their feelings of insecurity.

 

[GoesStation]

What if I use the advertisement instead of an advertisement? I just repeat 'the advertisement'? Does it sound good?

They are already insecure before watching the advertisement; the advertisement can only play upon their feelings of insecurity.

Which advertisement are you referring to? Even if you can answer the question, there's no reason to repeat the advertisement. It's awkward to do so.

 

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

Which advertisement are you referring to? Even if you can answer the question, there's no reason to repeat the advertisement. It's awkward to do so.

It refers to the advertisement that have made the person feel insecure. I now use the past tense. Should I use 'it'? But Phaedrus said it refers to 'watching the advertisement' rather than 'the advertisement'.

They were already insecure before watching the advertisement; it only played upon their feelings of insecurity.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It refers to the advertisement that had made the person feel insecure. I used the past tense. Should I use 'it'?

Use a pronoun when it's clear what the pronoun refers to.

But Phaedrus said it refers to 'watching the advertisement' rather than 'the advertisement'.

I think it refers to advertisement. But it makes sense either way.

They were already insecure before watching the advertisement. It only played upon their feelings of insecurity.

The important thing is that manifest is the wrong word.

 

[Phaedrus]

It refers to the advertisement that have made the person feel insecure. I now use the past tense. Should I use 'it'? But Phaedrus said it refers to 'watching the advertisement' rather than 'the advertisement'.

Phaedrus said that "it" could alternatively refer to "watching an advertisement." My point was that the referent of "it" was ambiguous in that context, not that the antecedent of "it" could not be "an advertisement." The antecedent can be either "watching an advertisement" or "an advertisement."

Worry not, Chubby. An advertisement that plays upon people's feelings will obviously be an advertisement that people have watched (or seen or heard). Thus, it is relatively immaterial whether we say that the advertisement itself played upon their feelings or that watching the advertisement did.

They were already insecure before watching the advertisement; it only played upon their feelings of insecurity.

The ambiguity still exists even there, but it really doesn't matter (see above). One way you could eliminate it, though, is by changing "watching the advertisement" to a finite clause. Then, to eliminate the awkwardness of the semicolon, you could use a nonrestrictive relative clause. Let "which" be the pronoun.

They were already insecure before they watched the advertisement, which only played upon their feelings of insecurity.

 

[I'm a Chubby Baby]

Then, to eliminate the awkwardness of the semicolon

Thanks, Phaedrus. Why is the semicolon awkward?

 

[Phaedrus]

Thanks, Phaedrus. Why is the semicolon awkward?

They were already insecure before watching the advertisement; it only played upon their feelings of insecurity.

It is a matter of opinion whether your use of a semicolon structure is awkward there. I find it awkward relative to the smoothness of "They were already insecure before watching the advertisement, which only played upon their feelings of insecurity."

The semicolon should be used sparingly, in my opinion. Here you have an independent clause ending with a noun phrase that is referred to by the subject of the following independent clause. A nonrestrictive relative clause is very natural and normal in this circumstance.