Tuesday, May 26, 2015

word meaning - "As far as I can say", "as far as I know", "as far as I can tell"



As far as I am concerned.
As far as the economic problems here are concerned.
And As far as I know.


My perception: All these are incorrect. Because we just use " As far as I am concerned" to mean " In my opinion" . Therefore it does not actually make sense saying: " in the economic problems's opinion." " I can say my opinion" " I know my opinion" and so forth.



Answer



I think you are mistakenly generalizing on a single instance.


As far as I am concerned may be used in contexts where it has approximately the same effect as saying in my opinion; but it does not mean in my opinion.


Examine the actual construction of the expression as far as X is concerned:



as far as means to the extent or degree that

X is concerned means X is involved or relevant



Consequently, as far as I am concerned only has the effect of saying in my opinion when it is used to introduce an opinion.



As far as I am concerned, Bob’s a jerk.This means “My concern in this matter does not go beyond recognizing that Bob’s a jerk; I am not interested in any subtler analysis of his behavior.”



But in other contexts as far as X is concerned takes on quite different meanings:



As far as the economic problems here are concerned ...This means “To the extent that our discourse involves the economic problems here [I have this to say] ...”




Similarly, as far as I know means to the extent that my knowledge reaches—that is, “I do not claim to know everything about this topic, but what I do know is this ...”


No comments:

Post a Comment

Simple past, Present perfect Past perfect

Can you tell me which form of the following sentences is the correct one please? Imagine two friends discussing the gym... I was in a good s...