a. Who do you think you are that you think you can win this game?
b. Who do you think you are to think that you can win this game?
(You think you can win this game. What authorizes you to think that? Who do you think you are?)
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c. How much experience do you have that you think you can run this company?
d. How much experience do you have to think you can run this company?
(You think you can run this company. Apparently you think you have enough experience to do so What amount of experience do you have?)
Are a, b, c and d grammatically correct and meaningful?
Do they correspond to the given meanings?
(a) and (b) are obviously rhetorical questions. I think (c) and (d) might or might not be, depending on the context.
I think they all work. I tried to paraphrase them, but I did I did a lame job. I can't paraphrase them properly.
Many thanks.
who do you think you are
who do you think you are
ACCESS_POST_ACTIONSRe: who do you think you are
Sentences a and b seem fine to me.
Sentences c and d do not sound entirely natural. They would probably work in speech, but I think most native speakers would go for something like "What experience do you have that makes you think you could/can run this company?"
As far as whether any of the options c, d or my version are rhetorical is concerned, that would depend on context, as you say. I have a sense that the use of "can" is more likely to be rhetorical and "could" is more likely to be straight, but the distinction is not clear cut.
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Sentences c and d do not sound entirely natural. They would probably work in speech, but I think most native speakers would go for something like "What experience do you have that makes you think you could/can run this company?"
As far as whether any of the options c, d or my version are rhetorical is concerned, that would depend on context, as you say. I have a sense that the use of "can" is more likely to be rhetorical and "could" is more likely to be straight, but the distinction is not clear cut.
Signature: Phil White
Non sum felix lepus
Non sum felix lepus
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