grammar - Oddly Phrased Sentence: "unreasonably cut consistently"



Their budget has been unreasonably cut consistently, yet they are the most successful administration in history.



This sentence seems to be phrased oddly, especially "unreasonably cut consistently" part. How can this be phrased to better convey the same meaning?



Answer



Here I would make a plea for style over grammatical correctness. The emphases are certainly debatable but a little pernickity. In my view, the phrase " has been unreasonably cut consistently, ..yet" is clumsy and does not make the point as strongly as it might. I prefer "has been consistently and unreasonably cut,.. yet" . Adding the "and" removes any doubt about the emphasis and a "clipped" ending with the single syllable word "cut" makes the point stronger, especially juxtaposed after a pause ( comma) with "yet". In this way, the author's effort to make the contrast is made stronger.


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