3

What is the difference between these two sentences below in terms of semantics or for that matter any other aspects?

He is a hard-working man.
He is a man who works very hard.

Is the distinction simply a matter of style? If not, what differences do they have in respect of giving information about the noun they modify?
To be more specific, I asked this question because I sometimes can't decide whether to use a relative clause or an adjective-like phrase to modify a noun.

Jasper
  • 24,268
  • 4
  • 54
  • 86
Michael Song
  • 31
  • 1
  • 3

2 Answers2

3

Both convey the same information, though in my experience, the first sentence would be the way that idea would be more commonly phrased.

RebelTech
  • 41
  • 3
  • I'd agree, that stylistically the adjective-like phrase is a lot more common. It evokes a sense of an archetype of the thing. Phrases like "hard-working man" or "fast-driving" car really bring to mind a certain image of the thing being described. Whereas using a relative clause puts more emphasis on the subject (the man in this case), and its relationship to the description is less tightly coupled. When I hear "hard-working man" there's a picture in my mind of what/who that is that isn't there when I hear "a man who works very hard" even though the meaning is basically the same in each phrase. – roms Sep 22 '21 at 18:49
-1

He is a hard-working man.

This sentence describes the man himself. Hard-working is an adjective phrase. I would expect the man always works hard because it is a description of the man himself.

He is a man who works very hard.

This sentence describes how he works. 'Very hard' is an adverb phrase. Because the phrase is an adverb it could be qualified like, "He is a man who works very hard one day a year." or "He is a man who works very hard at avoiding work."

While they are similar, they are not the same.

Ron Jensen
  • 1,279
  • 8
  • 14
  • 1
    You can 'qualify' either sentence and change the meaning of the original ones. –  Nov 13 '15 at 04:06