Yvonne Gallagher Jul 14, 2020:

@ Tony that is one possible meaning. There are others but without seeing the preceding (and following?) sentences the intent of the (bad) writing is unclear

Yassine El Bouknify (asker) Jul 11, 2020:

Thank you all for your help .

Tony M Jul 10, 2020:

@ Yvonne "One cannot compare 'questioning use of language' with 'illiteracy'"

Yvonne Gallagher Jul 10, 2020:

@ Asker We really need more context. Like Tony and others I find it hard to work out exactly the intention of the speaker. I don't have a problem with "there's no room when..." But what I find difficult, and surprised no one else mentioned it, are the juxtaposed "comparing questioning". The sentence needs rephrasing to make sense.

Tony M Jul 10, 2020:

@ Asker Once again, knowing the full context would help: I read this as someone having criticised someone's use of language (is this your Miss Red Pen?), and then being accused of being 'illiterate' for having done so, and this being their retort.

Tina Vonhof (X) Jul 9, 2020:

@asker No, that does not make sense - the word order is wrong this way. Does it have to be a literal translation or could you say: "It is not appropriate to compare...."? And note that the 'use of language' is not the same thing as 'language usage'. The use of language means using language in general; language usage refers to the way language is used, i.e., the different ways in which different people may express something. In your sentence, I think it is 'usage' that should not be compared to illiteracy.

Yassine El Bouknify (asker) Jul 9, 2020:

Thank you What about formulating it this way: "when it comes to comparing questioning the use of language to illiteracy, then there is no room." Does it make sense now?

JaneTranslates Jul 9, 2020:

@Yassine No, the sentence does not fully make sense, as you can see from the fact that my colleagues interpret it differently. And no, it's not perfectly correct. One of the things that you're missing is precisely what you pointed out yourself: the idiom is "there's no room FOR." If the writer chooses to use that idiom, somewhere there has to be a "for" to point us to the thing for which there is no room. That's the first problem.

The second problem is the phrase "questioning the use of language." The meaning is not clear. Tony's interpretation makes sense, but does not seem to match the previous sentence in the context given. Someone who has just said, "Your misuse of language is appalling" would, in my understanding, be more likely to then say something like, "But when I question your use of language, that's certainly not the same as calling you 'illiterate.'" Mark, Tony, Daryo, and I all have somewhat different interpretations of the meaning of that phrase; therefore, the sentence, as written, does not communicate well.

Daryo Jul 9, 2020:

the whole sentence is not quite right
feels either unfinished or uncorrected - someone couldn't decide which figure of speech to use and left both in the sentence - although the meaning of what is there is easy to decipher.

regarding

is it correct to use the word "when" after "there's no room."

the answer is simply YES - but only IF the rest of the sentence holds water.

A possible alternative:

"There's no room, when it comes to comparing questioning the use of language to "illiteracy", for any (flexibility/tolerance/ ....)

=> if someone starts comparing / equating asking questions about style with being illiterate, then that shows a lack of flexibility in thinking.

or

= if someone starts comparing / equating asking questions about style with being illiterate, then there will be no room for tolerance of such attitude

You could also try removing parts of the sentence to make it make sense.

Yassine El Bouknify (asker) Jul 9, 2020:

What do you think? The sentence is wordy, and I think it does make sense because it's perfectly and grammatically correct. Am I missing something?

Thank you

Tony M Jul 9, 2020:

@ Asker As you and Mark have said, the sentence as it stands seem to be woefully lacking "what it is there is no room for" — this sort of mid-sentence change of direction is very common in speech, of course.

I think what the speaker is trying to say is that 'questioning (challenging) the way we use language' is legitimate and should not be taken as implying that the questioner is in any way less literate.