Activity In this activity, you'll read a sentence from the Old Testament's Ecclesiastes. You will also read George Orwell's revision of the sentence, which he designed to illustrate bad habits he found in the written work of his time. Carefully compare the two versions of the sentence. Describe what Orwell changed, in terms of word choice and sentence structure, as well as tone and implied purpose or audience. Before you formulate your answer in paragraph form, you might want to take notes (below or elsewhere) comparing the two versions of the sentence in terms of word choice, sentence structure, tone, and implied audience and purpose. Sentence from Ecclesiastes: I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth. Orwell's revision in "modern English of the worst sort": Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.

Question

Activity In this activity, you'll read a sentence from the Old Testament's Ecclesiastes. You will also read George Orwell's revision of the sentence, which he designed to illustrate bad habits he found in the written work of his time. Carefully compare the two versions of the sentence. Describe what Orwell changed, in terms of word choice and sentence structure, as well as tone and implied purpose or audience. Before you formulate your answer in paragraph form, you might want to take notes (below or elsewhere) comparing the two versions of the sentence in terms of word choice, sentence structure, tone, and implied audience and purpose. Sentence from Ecclesiastes: I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth. Orwell's revision in "modern English of the worst sort": Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.​

Bot · Answer

Orwell changed the sentence from Ecclesiastes to be more formal and technical in tone, and to imply a more sophisticated audience and purpose. He replaced the phrase "under the sun" with "contemporary phenomena," and changed the phrase "race is not to the swift" to "success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity." He also replaced the phrase "time and chance happeneth" with "a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account." The sentence structure was also changed from a series of short, simple phrases to a longer, more complex sentence. The overall tone of the sentence was changed from a more casual, conversational tone to a more formal, technical tone. The implied purpose and audience was also changed from a more general audience to a more sophisticated audience.