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  • Posted by Iris on 2020年5月1日 at 7:36 pm

    There is a following sentence.

    “There is no man so bad but has a secret respect for the good.”

    I have 2 question.

    1.”So bad”in this sentence is adjective, why is this “bad” not put in front of “man” grammatically?

    2.If this sentence is “There is no bad man but has a secret respect for the good.”, is it different with the original meaning change?

    PLouis が返信しました 3 年, 10 ヶ月前 5 先生 · 8 返信
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  • Bensei

    Member
    2020年5月1日 at 7:47 pm
    391 スター
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    Are you sure the sentence is “There is no man so bad but has a secret respect for the good”?

    It does not sound natural to me.

  • kimberlyhardy22

    Member
    2020年5月3日 at 2:51 pm
    12 スター
    Free User

    I agree this sentence is incorrect and doesn’t make sense.
    It may have been translated…
    However, we say “so” bad to mean extremely bad and because we’re using “so”, “bad” is placed after. Adjectives generally come before a noun but not always. 😉

  • Iris

    Member
    2020年5月3日 at 9:02 pm
    3021 スター
    Free User

    Thank you for your explanation! If you know any other example, please let me know 🤗

  • Pedro

    Member
    2020年5月5日 at 1:03 am
    2 スター
    Free User

    The sentence is incorrect. I agree with Ben and Kimberly.

  • kimberlyhardy22

    Member
    2020年5月7日 at 6:46 pm
    12 スター
    Free User

    I think the meaning of this sentence should be:

    There is no man so bad that he doesn’t have a secret respect for goodness.

    善良さに対する秘密の尊敬を持たないほど悪い人はいません。

    Hope this translates well…

  • PLouis

    Member
    2020年5月8日 at 3:40 pm
    13 スター
    Free User

    Quick search in google books shows this sentence word-for-word under the pen of the prolifically published writer, Thomas Fuller. It goes back as far as 1732, and is repeatedly published as-is in subsequent centuries. There are numerous online discussions of this somewhat quaint construction with “but,” but it certainly persists to this day… so we really can’t call it incorrect. At worst it is a correct sentence sporting an ascot or monocle.

  • Iris

    Member
    2020年5月8日 at 4:28 pm
    3021 スター
    Free User

    Thank you for an interesting information! English is a quite profound language, and that’s exactly why it is very interesting !

    Btw, Japanese translation…
    どんな悪人でも、善なるものにひそかに敬意を払わない者はいない。

  • PLouis

    Member
    2020年5月8日 at 5:27 pm
    13 スター
    Free User

    You are welcome! Japanese is just as profound (and difficult!).

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