Oct 20, 2021 12:34
2 yrs ago
35 viewers *
English term

Punctuation

English Bus/Financial Investment / Securities trading
Please, help me to put commas and other signs in this sentence:

What that does to growth in inflation expectations, we think that would, you know, limit any upside in long-term Trasury yields and maybe pull them lower if they were to preemptively tighten and kind of choke off the recovery.
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Yvonne Gallagher

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Discussion

Daryo Oct 22, 2021:
Bad English? Or bad understanding of the subject matter?

"What that does to growth in inflation expectations?" is probably not going to win any literary prize, nor poetry contest, but the meaning is crystal clear.

Having elaborated on whatever is "that", this speaker has used a rhetorical question to introduce the next part, where he/she will be taking about the impact of whatever is "that" on "growth in inflation expectations" i.e. how a bigger number of people will be expecting a higher rate of inflation in the near future as a result of "that" happening.

If this is "bad English", you could probably say the same of our average article in The Economist ...

Yvonne Gallagher Oct 20, 2021:
now that's bad English "What that does to growth in inflation expectations?"
Daryo Oct 20, 2021:
If it's the transcript of someone's speech [it definitely sounds like] you would need to hear the speech to be really sure what is the right punctuation.

Sometime a difference in emphasis / intonation or a pause at a different part of the sentence can turn the meaning of the whole sentence upside down. Here, I can't see any possible trap of that kind.

A plausible variant:

"What that does to growth in inflation expectations? (this makes most sense as a question used as introduction)

We think that would, you know, limit any upside in long-term Treasury yields and maybe pull them lower - if they were to preemptively tighten and kind of choke off the recovery."


liz askew Oct 20, 2021:
well, "jargon" then!
Yvonne Gallagher Oct 20, 2021:
not poor English 1 small sp. error in TrEasury.
However, this isn't really a translation question and Kudoz isn't supposed to be a proofreading service.
That said, it's conversational as Phil says and you may have to keep it all as is if it's quoted speech. The commas are all OK. However, the "you know" and "kind of" are still rather too informal in the field but again, may need to be retained exactly.
philgoddard Oct 20, 2021:
It's not poor English It's a transcription of speech, and people don't talk in neat sentences. This person is actually very articulate. I would take out "you know" and "kind of", and perhaps break it down into shorter sentences depending on what the customer has asked for.
liz askew Oct 20, 2021:
and "choke off"

what terrible typing!!
liz askew Oct 20, 2021:
sorry, that should be "We think"
liz askew Oct 20, 2021:
i.e.
We thank that what it does to growth in inflation expectations, you know, would limit any upside in long-term Treasury yields, and maybe pull them lower if they were to preemptively tighten, and kind of choke of the recovery.
liz askew Oct 20, 2021:
.
liz askew Oct 20, 2021:
What that does to growth in inflation expectations, we think that would, you know, limit any upside in long-term Trasury yields and maybe pull them lower if they were to preemptively tighten, and kind of choke off the recovery.

What poor English!

Responses

15 days

punctuation is ok but text can be rephrased...

Surprised Asker you never came back to give us further info on your difficulties and to see this question still open.

As I said already, the punctuation is actually OK and if you are quoting directly it all would need to be retained. However, if you wanted it rephrased to make it easier to understand or you need to translate it then there are several possibilities.
e.g.

If they were to preemptively tighten and choke off the recovery we think that would limit any upside in long-term Treasury yields in terms of growth in inflation expectations, and perhaps pull those (yields) lower.

We think, in terms of growth in inflation expectations, that would limit any upside in long-term Treasury yields, and perhaps pull those (yields) lower if they were to preemptively tighten and choke off the recovery.

You could also form a question as Daryo suggested but you need to use an English question structure

"What does that do to growth in inflation expectations?

We think if they were to preemptively tighten and in some way choke off the recovery that would limit any upside in the long-term Treasury yields and perhaps pull them lower
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