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Someone wrote:

It seems this book is worth reading; however, I doubt it has the permission of translating and publishing in Iran.

Which of the following is correct/incorrect and why?

  • permission of translate and publish

  • permission of translation and publish

  • permission of translate and publishing

  • permission of translating and publishing

Ahmad
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2 Answers2

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None of your suggestions is idiomatic.

  1. Permit ordinarily takes an infinitival complement:

    I doubt the authorities will permit us to translate and publish this book.

    The derived noun permission takes the same sort of complement:

    I doubt we will obtain permission to translate and publish this book.

  2. Permission to perform an action is ordinarily granted only to persons who can perform the action—after all, a book can't publish itself! You could make the permission a property of the book by casting the actions performed in the passive:

    I doubt the book will have permission to be translated and published.

    But to speak of an inanimate object "having permission", or even passive "being permitted", is still pretty awkward English. You could get around this by recasting the acts performed as nouns and make those the subject of the subordinate clause:

    I doubt its translation and publication in Iran will be permitted.

    Or you could recast this as an active sentence with the permitting agent made explicit.

    I doubt the authorities will permit it to be translated and published in Iran.
    I doubt the authorities will permit its translation and publication in Iran.

StoneyB on hiatus
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  • Thank you! You may already noted that the permission must be casted by the Iran government. However, there is a permission that the author casts. Which one was in your mind. Does it change anything? – Ahmad Jan 04 '17 at 14:57
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    @Ahmad The source of the permission makes no syntactic difference, though obviously you'd replace "the authorities" with "the author" in each case. ... By the way, permission is "granted", not "cast". – StoneyB on hiatus Jan 04 '17 at 15:00
  • +1 for mentioning the word "permitted." Now I don't have to write an answer. – J.R. Jan 04 '17 at 15:42
  • I'd suggest "receive permission to be translated and published", rather than "have permission". – David Richerby Jan 04 '17 at 16:32
  • @DavidRicherby Mmm ... I have the same objection to the book "receiving" permission. – StoneyB on hiatus Jan 04 '17 at 17:26
  • How about "I doubt the book will warrant permission"? I agree that it's pretty clumsy to make the book the primary subject of the sentence; using active voice with the translator/publisher or the Iranian authority as subject works much better. – Tim Sparkles Jan 04 '17 at 21:31
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I think the most correct way to translate that and keep the sentence structured the same way would be:

"... I doubt it is permissible to translate and publish in Iran."

blerg
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  • You missed a word there; "It seems this book is worth reading; however, I doubt it is permissible to translate and publish it in Iran.". Both verbs need a subject (the book/it). – MSalters Jan 04 '17 at 18:46