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Today I came across this sentence:

Though I don't sell photos taken by me it still makes me feel good/appreciated/wanted

I want to know exactly what this sentence means. I assumed two possible meanings:

  1. He doesn't sell photos taken by himself but sells those taken by others. And that makes him feel good.
  2. The fact that he doesn't sell photos taken by himself makes him feel good

Which one is the correct interpretation?

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1  
'It' refers to the selling of photos taken by the speaker. 'Though' indicates there's a disjunct in the statement, which rules out your second interpretation. To embody the second meaning you'd have to delete 'though' and replace 'it still' with ', which'. – FumbleFingers May 17 '11 at 17:24

closed as not a real question by RegDwighт♦ May 18 at 20:25

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

There is a third possible interpretation: the speaker takes photos but does not sell them, and the act of taking photos makes him or her feel good.

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I think thats what i tried to mean in the second case. Couldn't phrase it well. :) – Bibhas May 17 '11 at 17:39
1  
@Bibhas: It should be noted that the sentence alone does not mean that. The sentence in and of itself tells you one thing and one thing only: that the author doesn't sell photos taken by himself. Anything else will have to be inferred from further context. That is because, as JSBangs points out, the "antecedent of it is unclear in this fragment". You cannot possibly tell what makes the author feel good. The information is simply not there. It could be picking daffodils, or eating children alive. At any rate, the question as stated does not even match this answer, so it has to be closed. – RegDwighт♦ May 18 at 20:25
up vote 6 down vote

The correct interpretation is option #1. The word though indicates a contrast between the two halves of the sentence, so the sentence means:

  • I don't sell photos taken by me
  • Nonetheless, it makes me feel appreciated [antecedent of it is unclear in this fragment]

In order to suggest meaning #2, the writer would have had to use because in place of though.

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up vote 4 down vote

The sentence is awkwardly constructed, making it hard to tell, but #1 is close to what it seems to be saying, though I wouldn't say that that it necessarily implies that the speaker sells photos at all.

There is at least a comma missing, and the antecedent of "it" is unclear:

Though I don't sell photos taken by me, it (taking photos? selling photos?) still makes me feel good/appreciated/wanted

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up vote 0 down vote

I think it simply means, although/even though he doesn't sell photos taken by himself, it still makes him feel appreciated.

Though is a synonym of although, even though, and despite the fact that.

Correct me if I am wrong.

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What makes him feel good? Selling other photos, not selling his own photos, taking photos? – TrevorD May 18 at 23:33
I think selling photos makes him feel good. – Edward Octavianus Pakpahan May 19 at 7:50

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