Apr 24 17:35
17 days ago
54 viewers *
English term
to see that human beings don’t fight
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
The sentence:
I worked with my thesis adviser, developmental
psychologist Elliot Turiel, to offer children
hypothetical scenarios and ask questions. If a team
captain has to fetch a runaway ball for their team to
stay in a tournament, should they do it even if it means
ignoring the fact that a little kid is being bullied
nearby? Younger children focused on getting the ball, but nine- or 10-year-olds were more willing to violate
a convention—the obligation to take care of the team
by retrieving the ball—to help the bullied child. As one
student said, “Someone could get hurt, and even
though you don’t win anything, it’s still good to see
that human beings don’t fight.”
The wider context is the same as in a previous question of mine (http://www.proz.com/kudoz/7182179?pwd=1MkA), namely, an article published in Scientific American on how to promote the moral development of children (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-of-re...
My question is: considering also the fact that the speaker is a 9- or 10-years-old child, how do you read the verb "to see" in the last sentence? As plain "observe" (perception: as in "I see a pretty flower") or as "assure" (action: as in "Please see that you're all here on time tomorrow")?
To me it's the second, but I'd like to have some native speakers' opinion (but everybody is welcome, of course).
I worked with my thesis adviser, developmental
psychologist Elliot Turiel, to offer children
hypothetical scenarios and ask questions. If a team
captain has to fetch a runaway ball for their team to
stay in a tournament, should they do it even if it means
ignoring the fact that a little kid is being bullied
nearby? Younger children focused on getting the ball, but nine- or 10-year-olds were more willing to violate
a convention—the obligation to take care of the team
by retrieving the ball—to help the bullied child. As one
student said, “Someone could get hurt, and even
though you don’t win anything, it’s still good to see
that human beings don’t fight.”
The wider context is the same as in a previous question of mine (http://www.proz.com/kudoz/7182179?pwd=1MkA), namely, an article published in Scientific American on how to promote the moral development of children (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-science-of-re...
My question is: considering also the fact that the speaker is a 9- or 10-years-old child, how do you read the verb "to see" in the last sentence? As plain "observe" (perception: as in "I see a pretty flower") or as "assure" (action: as in "Please see that you're all here on time tomorrow")?
To me it's the second, but I'd like to have some native speakers' opinion (but everybody is welcome, of course).
Responses
4 +7 | stop people fighting | philgoddard |
4 +2 | see to it that human beings don't fight | Jennifer Levey |
Change log
Apr 24, 2024 17:42: philgoddard changed "Field" from "Social Sciences" to "Other" , "Field (write-in)" from "genetic algorithms" to "(none)"
Responses
+7
11 mins
Selected
stop people fighting
I don't think it can mean 'observe', because humans do fight.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Diogo Garcia
: "To see that (something doesn't happen)" sounds like a rather common way of expressing this. A child that age could easily hear their elders using that expression and use it as well.
9 mins
|
Yes, it sounds slightly odd, but then kids often do. Thanks.
|
|
agree |
Darius Saczuk
19 mins
|
agree |
Chantale Flentge
26 mins
|
agree |
AllegroTrans
3 hrs
|
agree |
MollyRose
: stop people from fighting
3 hrs
|
agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
18 hrs
|
agree |
Mark Nathan
22 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you for editing my question and for your answer. Thanks, also, to all those who contributed with an answer, an agree or a discussion entry. "
+2
36 mins
see to it that human beings don't fight
'see' in the ST is a 'conversational shortcut' for the verbal phrase "see to it that", which means "to make sure that something is done"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/see to it#:~:text...
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis...
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/see to it#:~:text...
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis...
Discussion