adopted new regulations

Volcano · 03-06-2010, 05:16 AM

please look at this English text...
Actually, the only nations that adopted new regulations are farther from the equator than the continental United States.

I don't understand this sentence.

is it saying ,

continental United States did not adopted new regulations .

OR continental United States is not farther from the equator.

which is correct ?

neonsignal · 03-06-2010, 05:28 AM

It says that:
1) some nations adopted new regulations
2) that all those nations are farther from the equator than the USA (perhaps Canada, Scandinavia, etc)

The sentence implies that there is some reason (to do with latitude) why the USA didn't adopt the regulations.

Volcano · 03-06-2010, 05:36 AM

still not clear . it says "than the continental United States." ..confusion is here.

"than" indicates what ? regulation or farther .

entire thing looks complicated to me.

Can anyone simplify this please.

neonsignal · 03-06-2010, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Actually, the only nations that adopted new regulations are farther from the equator than the continental United States.

Removing some of the subclauses and adjectives, leaves the core of the sentence:

Quote:

The nations are farther than the United States

You can see that the comparison 'farther than' has been split over the subclause 'from the equator'.

The comparitive 'farther' often has this pattern:
A is farther from B than C.

(which means the distance from B to A is greater than the distance from B to C)

Volcano · 03-06-2010, 05:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neonsignal

Removing some of the subclauses and adjectives, leaves the core of the sentence:

You can see that the comparison 'farther than' has been split over the subclause 'from the equator'.

The comparitive 'farther' often has this pattern:
A is farther from B than C. so AB > AC

(which means the distance from B to A is greater than the distance from B to C)

peace finally ....nice explanation . nice trick .

Thanks for your time . This was very much helpful.