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>>"I am sure that many of the erudite readers of this little book know On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin inside and out. " I can't parse that sentence

>>"I am sure that many of the erudite readers of this little book know On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin inside and out. " I can't parse that sentence. Does it make sense? (English is not my first language)

nielu 6y ago
Well, I'm also not a native speaker, but it makes sense to me. Author is implying that every reader of his book knows "On the Origin of Species" very well.
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foo_foo_can_do 6y ago
looks right. You could re-write it as follows for clarity: "I am sure that many of you are familiar with Darwin's book On the Origin of Species"
rvieira 6y ago
I mean ... I get what he's saying but no, it's not well written and it's tautological. Since erudite literally means having a deep knowledge: "I am sure many experts on X know X inside out"
- jan_Inkepa 6y ago
  Erudite may be referring to generally well-read. Anyway, the sentence reads ok to me fwiw.
  - rvieira 6y ago
    I'd agree, except it reads to me as "many of the erudite readers _of this_ little book", it seems to imply erudites of Darwin's book.
    - ashtonbaker 6y ago
      "this little book" refers to "The Nation of Plants" - from which this piece is an excerpt. It's probably more obvious when you're holding the book, as opposed to reading an excerpt on the internet.
      - rvieira 6y ago
        Well, in that case I stand corrected :) It makes sense.
mrkstu 6y ago
It helps when you see that this article is actually an excerpt from a book, without that knowledge the sentence doesn’t really parse.
- RobertoG 6y ago
  Ah, that's it, thanks! For some reason I was thinking "this little book" was Darwin book (that it's actually quite small).
_Microft 6y ago
Not a native speaker either but it seems like an acceptable sentence. Here is a slightly reworked version that might be easier to understand. The brackets mark where I added something or left something out: "I am sure that many [...] readers of this [...] book know [the book] 'On the Origin of Species' (by Charles Darwin) inside and out." Edit: "to know something inside and out" means to be very familiar with something.
- guerrilla 6y ago
  The book is the book that the article is an excerpt from, not Darwin's.
  - _Microft 6y ago
    From my point of view this is still clear in the shortened sentence.

nielu 6y ago

Well, I'm also not a native speaker, but it makes sense to me. Author is implying that every reader of his book knows "On the Origin of Species" very well.

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foo_foo_can_do 6y ago

looks right. You could re-write it as follows for clarity: "I am sure that many of you are familiar with Darwin's book On the Origin of Species"

rvieira 6y ago

I mean ... I get what he's saying but no, it's not well written and it's tautological. Since erudite literally means having a deep knowledge: "I am sure many experts on X know X inside out"

jan_Inkepa 6y ago
Erudite may be referring to generally well-read. Anyway, the sentence reads ok to me fwiw.
- rvieira 6y ago
  I'd agree, except it reads to me as "many of the erudite readers _of this_ little book", it seems to imply erudites of Darwin's book.
  - ashtonbaker 6y ago
    "this little book" refers to "The Nation of Plants" - from which this piece is an excerpt. It's probably more obvious when you're holding the book, as opposed to reading an excerpt on the internet.
    - rvieira 6y ago
      Well, in that case I stand corrected :) It makes sense.

mrkstu 6y ago

It helps when you see that this article is actually an excerpt from a book, without that knowledge the sentence doesn’t really parse.

RobertoG 6y ago
Ah, that's it, thanks! For some reason I was thinking "this little book" was Darwin book (that it's actually quite small).

_Microft 6y ago

Not a native speaker either but it seems like an acceptable sentence. Here is a slightly reworked version that might be easier to understand. The brackets mark where I added something or left something out: "I am sure that many [...] readers of this [...] book know [the book] 'On the Origin of Species' (by Charles Darwin) inside and out." Edit: "to know something inside and out" means to be very familiar with something.

guerrilla 6y ago
The book is the book that the article is an excerpt from, not Darwin's.
- _Microft 6y ago
  From my point of view this is still clear in the shortened sentence.