Saturday, May 7, 2016

ambiguity - How to distinguish country between the meanings of nation and countryside?




Which country do you come from?



What is the meaning? Which countryside do you come from? or Which nation do you come from?



Answer



How to distinguish?


The country, when it is used to mean any sparsely populated rural area far outside the bounds of a city, cannot be used with "which", because the countryside does not consist of discrete bounded areas but is rather a continuous swath of green. There may be small villages dotting the countryside, but the country and the countryside refer to an anonymous stretch of rurality.


So, if the question contains the word "which", it is almost a certainty that the question is asking about nationality.


Which country do you come from?
--England.


What area of Massachusetts do you come from?

--I'm from the western part of the state, out in the country.
Did you enjoy life in the countryside, or were you eager to get to a big city?


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