for say

Hello
Please explain the phrase ‘for say’ in the sentence

You start translating sentence by sentence, for say the first paragraph, to get the feeling of tone of the text.

Thank you.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Anhminh:

I believe there is no “for say” phrase. It is only “say.” It is used when you wish to make a suggestion or give an example.

Here are two examples from good dictionaries:

“The form may include, say, a dozen questions.”

" If you serve, say tuna sandwiches and potato chips, it will cost much less." [I believe that there should be a comma after “say.”]


I believe that your sentence should be punctuated as follows:

“You start translating sentence by sentence, for, say, the first paragraph, to get the feeling of tone of the text.”

In my opinion only, the writer perhaps thought that so many commas looked ugly. So she / he decided to omit them, just as the dictionary example did.

James

P.S. Please remember: you can omit the word “say,” and the sentence still remains a complete sentence. So “say” should be set off by commas.

I read it like: “You start translating sentence by sentence, for (let’s) say[,] the first paragraph (=the first paragraph will possibly be enough), to get the feeling of tone of the text. (=to understand the manner in which the text has been written).

for say… for example.

You start translating sentence by sentence, for (let’s take as an example for the purposes of this conversation) the first paragraph…

Beeesneees,
‘If you order, say tuna sandwiches and potato chips, it will cost much less.’
Is this sentence OK and meaningful?
Thanks.

It’s correct wiith the addition of a comma:
If you order, say, tuna sandwiches and potato chips, it will cost much less.’

  • explanation already given above.