In and of itself
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Steven asks:

In this sentence – However, firm's human resources, in and of themselves, did explain improved performance, and some firms gained IT-related advantages by merging1 IT with complementary resources – what does "in and of themselves" mean?

My comments:

This is a great question, Steven.

Small words pose the biggest challenge to Chinese learners of English, don't you think?

I've often said that anyone who thinks his/her English is good/bad can test themselves by looking up the first entry in a dictionary – the letter "a", that is – and check to see if they have mastered its many various idiomatic2 usages, such as in your writing, there should've been an "a" or "the" preceding "firm's human resources". Won't do without one – "a" if you're talking about firms in general, "the" if you're addressing a particular one.

Other usages of "a" include: twice a day; take a good look at this; a crushing defeat; a few weeks from now; a knife and fork; a particularly fine Columbian coffee; a certain Mr Quinton; many a sleepless3 night...

Sure, you should pay attention to long and winding4 words like hippopotamus5, but you should mind shorter words more – I mean all the a's, the's, if's, but's and only's. Trust in four-letter words (no pun intended) and shorter. That way, in short, you'll go far.

"In and of itself", by the way, means just itself, when considered alone and not in connection with other factors. For example, it's commonly believed that money makes people happy, but money does not have the power in and of itself to make people happy (or unhappy). It takes happy (or unhappy) people to make it happen. In other words, if considered alone, money remains6 innocent.

Anyways as an adverb, "in and of itself/themselves" is similar to itself/themselves (for emphasis), or intrinsically (talking about things' inherent nature and qualities), or per se (Latin for in itself, by itself).

And here are two examples of "in and of itself/themselves" to help deepen the impression.

1. Vision loss linked to greater risk of early death (Reuters, September 9, 2007):

Older men and women with cataracts7 or age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) are at increased risk for suffering an early death, relative to older people without these two types of visual impairment, a study hints.

But it's not clear, the study team notes, whether the vision loss is simply a marker for deterioration8 due to aging or if, in and of itself, the conditions boost mortality risk.

2. New York Times Puts Reader Comments on Main Page - Good Idea? (www.readwriteweb.com, October 12, 2007):

Silicon9 Alley10 Insider spotted11 the New York Times web site displaying reader comments prominently under the top story on their front page today. The comments in-and-of themselves are not newsworthy – they came from a post on the site's news blog and the Times has linked to comment threads on the main page before. But this is, to anyone's recollection, the first time the site has actually displayed the actual comments themselves on the site.



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1 merging 65cc30ed55db36c739ab349d7c58dfe8     
合并(分类)
参考例句:
  • Many companies continued to grow by merging with or buying competing firms. 许多公司通过合并或收买竞争对手的公司而不断扩大。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
  • To sequence by repeated splitting and merging. 用反复分开和合并的方法进行的排序。
2 idiomatic ob8xN     
adj.成语的,符合语言习惯的
参考例句:
  • In our reading we should always be alert for idiomatic expressions.我们在阅读过程中应经常注意惯用法。
  • In his lecture,he bore down on the importance of idiomatic usage in a language.他在演讲中着重强调了语言中习惯用法的重要性。
3 sleepless oiBzGN     
adj.不睡眠的,睡不著的,不休息的
参考例句:
  • The situation gave her many sleepless nights.这种情况害她一连好多天睡不好觉。
  • One evening I heard a tale that rendered me sleepless for nights.一天晚上,我听说了一个传闻,把我搞得一连几夜都不能入睡。
4 winding Ue7z09     
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈
参考例句:
  • A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
  • The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。
5 hippopotamus 3dhz1     
n.河马
参考例句:
  • The children enjoyed watching the hippopotamus wallowing in the mud.孩子们真喜观看河马在泥中打滚。
  • A hippopotamus surfs the waves off the coast of Gabon.一头河马在加蓬的海岸附近冲浪。
6 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
7 cataracts a219fc2c9b1a7afeeb9c811d4d48060a     
n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 );白内障
参考例句:
  • The rotor cataracts water over the top of the machines. 回转轮将水从机器顶上注入。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Cataracts of rain flooded the streets. 倾盆大雨弄得街道淹水。 来自辞典例句
8 deterioration yvvxj     
n.退化;恶化;变坏
参考例句:
  • Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长,心智和体力自然衰退。
  • The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。
9 silicon dykwJ     
n.硅(旧名矽)
参考例句:
  • This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
  • A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。
10 alley Cx2zK     
n.小巷,胡同;小径,小路
参考例句:
  • We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
  • The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。
11 spotted 7FEyj     
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的
参考例句:
  • The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
  • Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。
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