cut/curtail/shorten the length of his speech draft

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Angliholic

#487945 Wed, 12 Mar 08 12:17 PM

The teacher suggested that Albert cut/curtail/shorten the length of his speech draft to avoid rushing through all the material.

Hi,

Do all of the bolded words fit in the above and mean about the same to you? Thanks.

Angliholic

Joined on Wed, Feb 14 2007

SomewhereinFormosa

Veteran Member (5,169)

Without true love, life is meaningless and worthless since our physical world is nothing but a dream. ~~Angliholic~~簡瑞達

Mister Micawber

#487960 Wed, 12 Mar 08 01:02 PM

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No. Curtail is wrong; it means place restrictions on, terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent.

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (21,226)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

Abbreviations

Angliholic

#487972 Wed, 12 Mar 08 01:14 PM

Thanks, Mister.

But the dictionary says curtail and cut/shorten are synonyms, so I'm shocked to read your post.

Angliholic

Synonyms

Marius Hancu

#488011 Wed, 12 Mar 08 03:24 PM

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SHORTEN commonly implies reduction in length or duration

CURTAIL generally adds to SHORTEN the idea of docking, a cutting that in some way deprives of completeness

Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary

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I think this example from the New York Times shows the approppriateness of the expression:

New Yorkers, etc. - New York Times

Ms. Nagel said she prefers, as do most people, to curtail the length of a personal conversation by saying something like: "I love talking to you but we'll ...

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Conversations, Expressions