I have been assigned a paragraph to "decode" of the Declaration of Independence. I am supposed to write it to make it so that it is easily understood and read-able. I'm having a hard time with it though, because I don't know what the actual words mean. It is the 9th paragraph, that starts with "Nor have we been wanting attentions to.."
Thank you for your time!
I think this is the paragraph you mean.
"Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."
The first thing you need to do is look up the unfamiliar words in a dictionary. Try this one.
http://dictionary.reference.com/
For instance, you'll find that "brethern" means brothers. The first sentence means, We've been paying attention to our English brothers.
I'm sure if you find the definitions of the strange words, and take it sentence by sentence, you'll be able to successfully complete this assignment.
I think I'd read the general gist of it as something like this:
"It's not as if we haven't been concerned about the British. They've been warned several times about their unwarranted attempts to impose their laws on us. We've reminded them of the circumstances under which we came and settled here; we've called upon their innate sense of justice and goodwill, and we've appealed to our common heritage to curtail these impositions which will inevitably impact negatively on all our dealings with them. It's all fallen on deaf ears, and we're therefore left with no option but to declare our independence, and to regard them - just like everyone else - as enemies in time of war and friends in times of peace."
Obviously you wouldn't use the colloquial language I've used above in your assignment, but I suspect that was pretty much what was going through the author's head at the time. Does that help?
Sure! I'd be happy to help you decode the 9th paragraph of the Declaration of Independence and make it more easily understandable. Let's break it down step by step:
Original Sentence: Nor have we been wanting attentions to our British brethren.
Step 1: Decode key words.
- "Nor" means "also not."
- "Have been wanting" means "have been lacking" or "have not been in need of."
- "Attentions" means "concerns" or "thoughtful considerations."
- "British brethren" means "our fellow people from Britain."
Step 2: Rewrite the sentence in simpler terms.
"We have also not been lacking concerns for our fellow people from Britain."
Step 3: Add more context to improve readability.
"We have also made sure to pay attention to the concerns of our fellow people from Britain."
I hope this helps! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
To decode the assigned paragraph from the Declaration of Independence, you need to break it down sentence by sentence and understand the meaning of each word and phrase. Here's a step-by-step breakdown to help you make it easily understandable:
1. Start by identifying the key phrases and sentences in the paragraph:
- "Nor have we been wanting attentions to"
- "our British brethren"
- "We have warned them"
- "from time to time"
- "of attempts by their legislature"
- "to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us"
2. Break down the meanings of the phrases and sentences:
- "Nor have we been wanting attentions to" means we have not lacked in showing concern or paying attention to.
- "Our British brethren" refers to our fellow colonists who are from Britain.
- "We have warned them" means we have advised or alerted them.
- "From time to time" means occasionally or at intervals.
- "Of attempts by their legislature" refers to the efforts made by the British government.
- "To extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us" means to impose unfair control or authority over us.
3. Rewrite the paragraph using simpler language:
- "We have always paid attention to our fellow colonists from Britain."
- "We have repeatedly warned them about the British government's attempts to exert unfair control over us."
By breaking down the complex language and understanding the meaning of each phrase, you can now rewrite the paragraph in a way that is easier to understand and read. Remember to maintain the overall sense and context while simplifying the language.