The author uses the word "immediacy" (line 39) most likely in order to express

gupta.bree on August 19, 2020

Example 8

Hi, Could you please explain why option (b) was diagrammed that way? Thanks!

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Victoria on September 3, 2020

Hi @gupta.bree,

Happy to help!

Option (B) was diagrammed this way because of its structure.

"Jenny will have lots of balloons at her birthday party."

Hypothetically, we could either rewrite this as "if it is Jenny's birthday party, then there will be lots of balloons" or "if there are lots of balloons, then it is Jenny's birthday party."

The first way is correct for two reasons:

(1) The focus in this statement is on Jenny and her party, not on the presence of balloons. Therefore, it makes more sense grammatically to diagram it this way.

(2) It does not make sense that the presence of lots of balloons is sufficient for it to be Jenny's birthday party. There are plenty of reasons why there may be lots of balloons e.g. someone else's birthday party, a retirement party, a baby shower, etc. It makes more sense that Jenny's birthday party is sufficient for the presence of balloons.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.