Breakdown of Видимо, человечество должно контролировать своё развитие.
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
свой
one's own
развитие
the development
контролировать
to control
видимо
apparently
человечество
humanity
Questions & Answers about Видимо, человечество должно контролировать своё развитие.
The word видимо translates to 'apparently'. Does it imply doubt, or is the speaker pretty certain?
Видимо expresses a conclusion the speaker has drawn based on observation. It literally relates to видеть (to see), meaning 'from what can be seen' or 'evidently'. It implies a strong deduction, similar to 'apparently' or 'seemingly' in English. It shows more certainty than наверное (probably) or возможно (possibly), but leaves slightly more room for doubt than конечно (of course).
Why does the word должно end in -о here?
It must agree in gender and number with the subject of the sentence, человечество (humanity). Because abstract nouns ending in -ство are neuter, the short-form adjective должен (obliged/must) takes the neuter singular ending -о to become должно.
Could we use его instead of своё to mean 'its development'?
No, using его would change the meaning entirely. In Russian, whenever the owner of the object is the subject of the sentence (humanity is controlling humanity's own development), you must use a form of the reflexive possessive pronoun свой. If you used его развитие, it would imply humanity is controlling the development of some other neuter or masculine entity mentioned in a previous sentence.
Why is the imperfective verb контролировать used here rather than a perfective equivalent?
Because the action of humanity controlling its development is a continuous, permanent, and ongoing process. A perfective verb would imply a single, completed action with a final end result, which does not fit the context of an ongoing, open-ended obligation.
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