Question

21 January

Japanese

English (US)
English (UK)

Question about English (US)

What’s the meaning of this sentence?

A great man of the past is one thing to the man in the street and another to those who study him closely- and who seldom agree.

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Answers

LynneeML

21 January

English (US)

A historical figure means one thing to average people and means something else to the people who study him and who rarely agree.
・"great man of the past" = a person whose actions shaped history, a historical figure
・"man on the street" = average people, an average person

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Shun1245

21 January

Japanese

@LynneeML I understand, but what does “thing to A” mean?

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Shun1245

21 January

Japanese

@LynneeML umm, does “the people.......” mean “the people who study him and rarely agree.”?
Or are there two groups, people who study him closely and people who seldom agree?

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LynneeML

21 January

English (US)

@Shun1245 There are two groups of people in this sentence: average people who do not study him, and people who do. The people who do study him rarely agree with each other.

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LynneeML

21 January

English (US)

@Shun1245 I'm not sure this is what you're asking about, but there is a set formation "X means one thing the Group/Person A and another to Group/Person B." It means that the meaning and importance of X are different depending on the group/person. Does that answer your question?

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Shun1245

25 January

Japanese

@LynneeML yes! Thank you!!

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What’s the meaning of this sentence?A great man of the past is one thing to the man in the street and another to those who study him closely- and who seldom agree. See a translation

A historical figure means one thing to average people and means something else to the people who study him and who rarely agree.・"great man of the past" = a person whose actions shaped history, a historical figure・"man on the street" = average people, an average person

@Shun1245 There are two groups of people in this sentence: average people who do not study him, and people who do. The people who do study him rarely agree with each other.

@Shun1245 I'm not sure this is what you're asking about, but there is a set formation "X means one thing the Group/Person A and another to Group/Person B." It means that the meaning and importance of X are different depending on the group/person. Does that answer your question?

What’s the meaning of this sentence?

A great man of the past is one thing to the man in the street and another to those who study him closely- and who seldom agree.

See a translation

A historical figure means one thing to average people and means something else to the people who study him and who rarely agree.
・"great man of the past" = a person whose actions shaped history, a historical figure
・"man on the street" = average people, an average person