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 merging 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 idiomatic 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 sleepless night...
Sure, you should pay attention to long and winding words like hippopotamus, 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 remains innocent.
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