Is this sentence grammatically correct? If so, how would it be interpreted?
A weak Euro can hurt the region抯 economy, as well as the American.
Shouldn抰 there be parallelism?
Vera Mello
vcqm@ruralsp.com.br
Yes, the sentence is really ambiguous, and even funny as it is presented!
A strict interpretation of the sentence could mean that the economy
of the region can be hurt, and also the American can
be hurt. At first glance, it seems that "the American" is
a person, but that can抰 be what the writer intended to say.
The sentence should contain parallel elements, of course. Here are
some alternative ways to construct the sentence so that it is clear
as to what, not whom, can be hurt:
A weak Euro can hurt the region抯 economy as well as America抯 [or,
America抯 economy].
A weak Euro can hurt the economy of this region as well as that of
America.
A weak Euro can hurt the economies of both this region and of America.
A weak Euro can hurt not only the economy of this region, but also
that [or, the economy] of America.
All these sentences can also be passive. As an example, the first sentence
is transformed into the passive as follows:
The region's economy, as well as America's, can be hurt by a weak
Euro.