French2English (asker) Mar 2, 2007:

jacqueb, ...hi again. Yes, I already ditched the 'comme', thanks...and have made it make as much sense as I can - will certainly flag up the whole paragraph to the client, however, just to be on the safe side. What's a twist? Thanks.

jacqueb Mar 2, 2007:

Elizabeth, I'm pretty sure they're referring to the studies, not the plants, and if you delete the "comme" as I mentioned, you'll see that somebody edited the sentence, and forgot to do it themselves. For the rest, I agree, but drop the tonic and add a twist.

French2English (asker) Mar 2, 2007:

Terry, ...I agree about towing it out to sea! Do you have a boat & crew to lend me? Actually, the way it is written, if you analyse it further, you find yourself wondering whether the 'rendues accessibles' refers to the 'usines' themselves or the 'etudes scientifiques'. Or perhaps I've just been at it too long...must admit I've just seen three small green men out of the corner of my eye heading towards my gin and tonic...yeah, it's that time of day where I am...! Perhaps I'll tie the sentence up in a plastic bag and let it ferment over the weekend! Thanks to all in the meantime.

jacqueb Mar 2, 2007:

As I commented on Terry's answer, if you eliminate the word "comme" it fixes the grammatical issues, but the sentence still isn't going anywhere.

French2English (asker) Mar 2, 2007:

that's... ...what I thought - although the agency (not the client, mind you, so I am not taking too much notice!) assures me there is nothing missing... but it simply doesn't make sense to me. It would without the 'comme', however... perhaps the writer changed course midway through...which does happen, after all.

jacqueb Mar 2, 2007:

I agree with CMJ; the sentence is incomplete.

CMJ_Trans (X) Mar 2, 2007:

stéréotypées,..... and the sentence should go on - it finishes up in the air as it is

French2English (asker) Mar 2, 2007:

sorry... ...I should have said that I don't actually need a translation of 'largement stéréotypées', but I had to put something in the box!