4 ms·

Am I parsing the title correctly?: Missions to (and Sample Returns from) Nearby Interstellar Objects

BjoernKW 6y ago
That's one strangely phrased title. Intuitively, I'd agree. However, the 'correct' parse would be: "(Missions to and Sample Returns from) Nearby Interstellar Objects", i.e. the two nouns 'missions' and 'returns' (with 'sample' as its specifier) are linked by conjunction because only words of the the same type (noun, verb etc.) can by linked by conjunctions (or disjunctions, for that matter).
- Gravityloss 6y ago
  What's the difference in the parsing it this or that way? It talks about visiting interstellar objects, with sample return. What's the alternative interpretation?
  - dcminter 6y ago
    I think others are getting a sort of garden-path mis-parsing of 'sample' as a verb here: Missions (Plural Noun) To (Preposition) And (Conjunction) Sample (Verb) Where they should have Sample Returns (Compound Plural Noun) My grammatical terms are probably all wrong, but you get the gist. It reads fine to me, but it can be hard to see these hiccups once you've read it the "correct" way. Edit: Also I think the unusually-placed preposition is pushing them that way.
    - Gravityloss 6y ago
      Ah, makes sense!
- Sharlin 6y ago
  The indirect object "Nearby Interstellar Objects" distributes over the conjunctive clause "Missions to and Sample Returns from". Expanded, we get "(Missions to Nearby Interstellar Objects) and (Sample Returns from Nearby Interstellar Objects)".
- Sosh101 6y ago
  What is "Missions to and Sample" supposed to mean?
  - Aardwolf 6y ago
    No, it's "Missions to and Sample Returns from" So in expanded form: "Missions to Nearby Interstellar Objects and Sample Returns from Nearby Interstellar Objects"
    - TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
      "Missions" is redundant, because you're not going to get a sample return without a mission. So "Collecting Samples from Nearby Interstellar Objects" would have been enough to do the job.
      - Keysh 6y ago
        Not really, because "missions without sample returns" (aka "flyby/impactor") is one of the options considered.
  - raxxorrax 6y ago
    [Missions (to)] and [Sample Returns (from)] Nearby Interstellar Objects. "Missions and Sample Returns to and from Nearby Interstellar Objects" is probably what I would have made from that, but no idea if that is allowed or comprehensible. English is not my native tongue and I noticed that I don't understand capitalization as well as I thought. Why do you do that now? Just because it is a title? And why not for to/and/from? Are prepositions exempt?
bregma 6y ago
If one was a writer of English one would write "Missions To, and Sample Returns From, Nearby Interstellar Objects." A mathematician or experienced computer programmer would, of course, reach for parentheses instead of commas. A headline writer uses nothing. Brevity and attention capture are their goals, not clarity of content.
- lmilcin 6y ago
  You could also consider the possibility that English is not a native language for the author.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

That's one strangely phrased title. Intuitively, I'd agree. However, the 'correct' parse would be: "(Missions to and Sample Returns from) Nearby Interstellar Objects", i.e. the two nouns 'missions' and 'returns' (with 'sample' as its specifier) are linked by conjunction because only words of the the same type (noun, verb etc.) can by linked by conjunctions (or disjunctions, for that matter).

Gravityloss 6y ago
What's the difference in the parsing it this or that way? It talks about visiting interstellar objects, with sample return. What's the alternative interpretation?
- dcminter 6y ago
  I think others are getting a sort of garden-path mis-parsing of 'sample' as a verb here: Missions (Plural Noun) To (Preposition) And (Conjunction) Sample (Verb) Where they should have Sample Returns (Compound Plural Noun) My grammatical terms are probably all wrong, but you get the gist. It reads fine to me, but it can be hard to see these hiccups once you've read it the "correct" way. Edit: Also I think the unusually-placed preposition is pushing them that way.
  - Gravityloss 6y ago
    Ah, makes sense!
Sharlin 6y ago
The indirect object "Nearby Interstellar Objects" distributes over the conjunctive clause "Missions to and Sample Returns from". Expanded, we get "(Missions to Nearby Interstellar Objects) and (Sample Returns from Nearby Interstellar Objects)".
Sosh101 6y ago
What is "Missions to and Sample" supposed to mean?
- Aardwolf 6y ago
  No, it's "Missions to and Sample Returns from" So in expanded form: "Missions to Nearby Interstellar Objects and Sample Returns from Nearby Interstellar Objects"
  - TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
    "Missions" is redundant, because you're not going to get a sample return without a mission. So "Collecting Samples from Nearby Interstellar Objects" would have been enough to do the job.
    - Keysh 6y ago
      Not really, because "missions without sample returns" (aka "flyby/impactor") is one of the options considered.
- raxxorrax 6y ago
  [Missions (to)] and [Sample Returns (from)] Nearby Interstellar Objects. "Missions and Sample Returns to and from Nearby Interstellar Objects" is probably what I would have made from that, but no idea if that is allowed or comprehensible. English is not my native tongue and I noticed that I don't understand capitalization as well as I thought. Why do you do that now? Just because it is a title? And why not for to/and/from? Are prepositions exempt?

bregma 6y ago

If one was a writer of English one would write "Missions To, and Sample Returns From, Nearby Interstellar Objects." A mathematician or experienced computer programmer would, of course, reach for parentheses instead of commas. A headline writer uses nothing. Brevity and attention capture are their goals, not clarity of content.

lmilcin 6y ago
You could also consider the possibility that English is not a native language for the author.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]