Curious about a review

[Rajnee Varma]

Hi everyone

This is not to criticise anybody, or to find faults. I found the following text in a recent review on OBC.

"As somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and finding a purpose in life, this was a well-structured and relatable read."

I wish to know if the sentence structure is correct. "As somebody… … this was a well-structured and relatable read." Here, I think that the book, and not "somebody" is a "read". Also there was no mention of dislike, editing/errors, or recommendations, and still it is published as a volunteer review.

Ofcourse, online grammar checkers did not find any errors in the sentence. What do other members think?

Thank you and have a good day

[Joule Mwendwa]

Hi everyone

This is not to criticise anybody, or to find faults. I found the following text in a recent review on OBC.

"As somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and finding a purpose in life, this was a well-structured and relatable read."

I wish to know if the sentence structure is correct. "As somebody… … this was a well-structured and relatable read." Here, I think that the book, and not "somebody" is a "read". Also there was no mention of dislike, editing/errors, or recommendations, and still it is published as a volunteer review.

Ofcourse, online grammar checkers did not find any errors in the sentence. What do other members think?

Thank you and have a good day

Hello. In my opinion, I see no error. The phrase "dedicated to personal development and finding a purpose in life" is an intruder enclosed in commas.

[Rajnee Varma]

Thanks for reply. But that is not my point. What is "a well-structured and relatable read." ? The book and not the person! So how does it connect to " As somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development

[John Owen]

Hi everyone

This is not to criticise anybody, or to find faults. I found the following text in a recent review on OBC.

"As somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and finding a purpose in life, this was a well-structured and relatable read."

I wish to know if the sentence structure is correct. "As somebody… … this was a well-structured and relatable read." Here, I think that the book, and not "somebody" is a "read". Also there was no mention of dislike, editing/errors, or recommendations, and still it is published as a volunteer review.

Ofcourse, online grammar checkers did not find any errors in the sentence. What do other members think?

Thank you and have a good day

Hi, this is a nice question to ask. Grammar can be intimidating at times. However, the sentence is perfectly okay. There are verbs which can also be used as nouns, which is most if not all. It depends on the context and position in the sentence. These are called verbal nouns or gerundial nouns. The following are a few examples:

Drink:
As a verb: I will drink water.
As a noun: Let's have a drink.

Stand:
As a verb: Stand on the podium.
I have a strong stand on the issue.

Sack:
As a verb: Tim was sacked today.
As a noun: The sacking was unwarranted.

The verb "read" also follows the same track. While it sounds awkward, especially if you're not used to it, it is not grammatically wrong if written correctly.

[Rajnee Varma]

Thank you for explanation. So, it means that

"As somebody [who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and finding a purpose in life,] this was a well-structured and relatable read."
is correct?!
Have a good day.

[Daniel Staples]

The sentence is not written clearly. The subject, I, is implied in the first clause. It should be expressed as a whole sentence with a verb such as think, or feel, before carrying on with ...this was a well-structured and relatable read. Do you agree?

[The Keeper Jr]

Hi,
I also agree with Daniel Staples. The sentence doesn't deliver the right meaning. I think it should go this way:
"As somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and finding a purpose in life, I think this was a well-structured and relatable read." We can also use " I believe " instead.

[Rajnee Varma]

Hi Keeper Jr
Finally somebody got my point. This is exactly what I was trying to convey.
Thank you for understanding and helping me.
Have a great day
Rajnee

[Lisa Trefsger]

I agree with Daniel too. I also think inserting "and is" before "dedicated" would make it clearer:
"As someone who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, and is dedicated to personal development and finding a purpose in life, I think this was a well-structured and relatable read."

[Anniewilford]

There's a grammatical error in the last sentence, my take!!

[Rajnee Varma]

Thank you Anniewilford for agreeing.
Have a good day!

[Soe Moe Win]

Hello,
Good morning.
This is a good discussion.
I am of the opinion that the sentence should be like this:

For (not As) somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and found (not finding)a purpose in life, this was a well-structured and relatable read.

Let me explain. There are four sentences:
This was a well-structured and relatable read for somebody.
Somebody has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses.
Somebody has dedicated to personal development
Somebody has found a purpose in life.

Let me use the relative pronoun “who” to make the last three sentences be adjective clauses.
Somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses
Somebody who has dedicated to personal development
Somebody who has found a purpose in life

Let me combine the three adjective clauses into one.
Somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, has dedicated to personal development and has found a purpose in life

Let me reduce the word “has”.
Somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and found a purpose in life
This is an adjective clause. We can use this as a noun. Let me combine all four sentences into one.
This was a well-structured and relatable read for somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and found a purpose in life.

If the writer wants to focus or emphasize a particular part of a sentence, s/he can place it in front of the sentence. Therefore let me change.
For somebody who has done a fair share of corporate and higher education courses, dedicated to personal development and found a purpose in life, this was a well-structured and relatable read.
Here I prefer “this is”.

The original writer knows what s/he means.

Thank you for reading my opinion.
Have a good time.

[Rajnee Varma]

Hi
Thank you, Soe Moe Win, for your detailed explanation. It is really informative and useful.
Have a good day