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Interpret the phrase "pushers who are less bound by civil law than are the police who oppose them"?
The pushers are unlicensed dealers in illegal drugs. The phrase "pushers who are less bound by civil law than are the police who oppose them" states one of the reasons for drug abuse.
Does the phrase mean
1) The pushers are less bound by the civil law than by the police, or
2) The pushers are less bound by the civil law than the police, or
3) Anything else?
THX!
1 Answer
- The ProfLv 68 years ago
hi from London, I'm a native speaker of British English
your #2 is the best interpretation. Your example sentence is not complete, but what you have written suggests that the police are bound (restricted) by civil law, they cannot operate outside of the law, but the drug pushers are less restricted, so it is a comparison of the level of restriction between the pushers and the police.
You could paraphrase the sentence as:
the pushers are able to operate without restriction in comparison to the police who are bound by the civil law.
Good luck!
