Hi! When I first read this sentence,"Stephanie envisions a future in which seemingly unsightly everyday objects will be made from materials with properties that now seem "completely impossible", I tho

Shana

Hi! When I first read this sentence,"Stephanie envisions a future in which seemingly unsightly everyday objects will be made from materials with properties that now seem "completely impossible", I thought it meant that new materials would be able to produce some seemingly unsightly everyday objects in the future, but realizing that now is completely impossible. The phrase 'be made from' led me to think so. But I guess my interpretation is wrong because the logic may not make sense. Could it be: New materials will be able to transform seemingly unsightly everyday objects into something remarkable. This idea is currently completely impossible to realize. Or: These seemingly unsightly everyday objects will be the ingredients of new materials, and nobody had thought that it could work. Sorry for making such a 'long' post 😥. I am curious why this sentence is hard to interpret correctly

Apr 27, 2024 9:07 AM

Answers · 18

Your original interpretation is correct. The phrase "materials with properties that now seem 'completely impossible'" is just a fancy way of saying "remarkable new materials". The word "unsightly" is one that I find strange. "Unsightly" means "ugly". I don't think that is what the author intended to say. I think he intended to say the objects would be inconspicuous. A word like "unremarkable" would have been better. Hence the sentence says something like "Stephanie envisions a future in which seemingly unremarkable everyday objects will be made from remarkable new materials." To avoid using "remarkable" twice, you could say "Stephanie envisions a future in which seemingly commonplace everyday objects will be made from remarkable new materials."

Apr 27, 2024 11:38 AM

It doesn’t make much sense to me. Something can’t really be “seemingly” unsightly. It either is or it isn’t. Maybe the idea is that new materials will make them look better.

Apr 27, 2024 9:15 AM

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