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Eudora13

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I came across this question while solving a question paper, does anyone know the right answer?

"Man proposes, God disposes." is an example of a/an _____.

a) hypothesis

B) synthesis

c) antithesis

d) thesis

It can't be a) and d). I'm guessing it's antithesis. What do you think?

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I don't think it's an antithesis. 'Propose' and 'dispose' aren't antonyms. 'Propose' in this case means to put forward an idea or a plan, while 'dispose' is to decide what happens. Doing some further reading, this proverb is actually a translation from "The Imitation of Christ", and puts forth the notion that God ultimately decides a man's success or failure no matter what. As such, I would say my answer is a) hypothesis.

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I came across this question while solving a question paper, does anyone know the right answer?

"Man proposes, God disposes." is an example of a/an _____.

a) hypothesis

B) synthesis

c) antithesis

d) thesis

It can't be a) and d). I'm guessing it's antithesis. What do you think?

Your guess is as good as mine. I wouldn't go with thesis. That's self-explanatory. Neither hypothesis, because it means hypothesizing or assuming. A synthesis suggests a mixture of any kind of ideas. Antithesis suggest the combination of different ideas.  :wink:
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I'm thinking antithesis too since anti implies of opposing idea. I can be wrong though, I'm only answeing this with my limited knowledge on English. You may need more input on this to be sure but I'm fairly sure is antithesis.

Well, you are right in your assumption. I just researched the word antithesis and it's meaning is exactly what it sounds like.
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I don't think it's an antithesis. 'Propose' and 'dispose' aren't antonyms. 'Propose' in this case means to put forward an idea or a plan, while 'dispose' is to decide what happens. Doing some further reading, this proverb is actually a translation from "The Imitation of Christ", and puts forth the notion that God ultimately decides a man's success or failure no matter what. As such, I would say my answer is a) hypothesis.

Seems like TC posed a very good question here. I think the answer is open for debates. I did more digging but couldn't find anything substantial. I hope that the TC will be able to come back with an answer for his question.

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From what I've learned from my professor in College. Synthesis is the agreement or an argument which is the end effect of Thesis/Anti-thesis arguments. So the answer could actually be Synthesis which would be true if the first and second argument are from different sides of an argument.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't think it's an antithesis. 'Propose' and 'dispose' aren't antonyms. 'Propose' in this case means to put forward an idea or a plan, while 'dispose' is to decide what happens. Doing some further reading, this proverb is actually a translation from "The Imitation of Christ", and puts forth the notion that God ultimately decides a man's success or failure no matter what. As such, I would say my answer is a) hypothesis.

Hey this is quite a sound explanation you gave. I didn't know about the translation bit at all, thanks for sharing that! From you're point of view, it does seem like antithesis isn't the right answer. You've quite convinced me it's hypothesis. I'll find out which it is and come back with it for sure. :)

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"Man proposes, God disposes." is an example of a/an _____.

a) hypothesis

B) synthesis

c) antithesis

d) thesis

My first thought was antithesis but it might be hypothesis.

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I don't think it's an antithesis. 'Propose' and 'dispose' aren't antonyms. 'Propose' in this case means to put forward an idea or a plan, while 'dispose' is to decide what happens. Doing some further reading, this proverb is actually a translation from "The Imitation of Christ", and puts forth the notion that God ultimately decides a man's success or failure no matter what. As such, I would say my answer is a) hypothesis.

I agree with your argumentation, but I reach a different conclusion, I'd say it's a thesis because "Man proposes, God disposes." is the proposition of a thesis, the one that man proposes and god disposes.

Eudora, do you have a correct answer for this test? I am glad I was not the one taking it!  :grin:

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