Section 4 Of What Use Is It?1
When2 Franklin made his discovery of the identity3 of lightning4 and electricity4, it4 was sneered at5, and people asked: “Of what use is it?” To6 which his apt reply was: “What is the use of a child?—It may7 become a man!”—S. Smiles.
Notes
1 Of — it, Wozu nützt es?
2 ‘When’, referring to definite time of the Past, must always be rendered by ‘als’.
3 of the identity, von der Identität, f.; see S. 3, N. 2.
4 When the agent from which the action proceeds is not mentioned, the English Passive Voice is often rendered by a reflective verb, or by the indefinite pronoun man and a verb in the Active Voice; as—
At last the book was found. Endlich {fand sich} das Buch.
{fand man}
Say ‘people (man) sneered at it.’
5 A. To sneer at something, über etwas spotten; B. ‘at it’ = there at, darüber. The English pronouns ‘it’, ‘them’, ‘that’, and ‘those’, dependent on a preposition governing in German the dative or accusative, are generally to be rendered by the pronominal adverb ‘da’ in combination with a corresponding preposition. This is always the case when ‘it’ and ‘that’, in connection with a preposition are used indefinitely, and frequently when either of these pronouns refers to a noun representing an inanimate object or an abstract idea. The letter r is inserted between the adverb da and the preposition, whenever the latter begins with a vowel.
6 To — was = Upon this (Hierauf) he (inverted constr., see App. § 14) gave the following striking (treffend) answer.
7 may = can; to become a man, zum Manne werden.