get his Irish accent across to the audience

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Angliholic

#516072 Tue, 20 May 08 03:47 PM

Although he spoke slowly, he couldn't get his Irish accent across to the audience.

Hi,

Does the bolded part make sense 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

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Clive

#516110 Tue, 20 May 08 04:54 PM

Hi,

Although he spoke slowly, he couldn't get his Irish accent across to the audience.

Does the bolded part make sense to you?

One usually 'gets information across to someone', meaning 'communicate' or 'convey'.

Thus, it would be more natural to say

Although he spoke slowly, he couldn't get his points/information across to the audience because of his Irish accent.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (21,169)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

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optilang

#516195 Tue, 20 May 08 07:46 PM

Makes sense to me - he couldn't get his Irish accent accross to the audience - so his Irish accident meant the audience could not understand him. Had he got his accent across he would, at the same time, have got his message/information across

optilang

Joined on Tue, May 13 2008

Poland

Senior Member (2,175)

OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

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khoff

#516217 Tue, 20 May 08 09:20 PM

I would agree with Clive here. The audience probably did 'get' his accent, but nothing else -- that is, they probably understood that he had an Irish accent, but did not understand what he was trying to say.

khoff

Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005

Denver, Colorado, USA, Earth

Senior Member (2,569)

Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

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optilang

#516224 Tue, 20 May 08 09:36 PM

He then said that my accent didn't come across well on the ad. I pressed him to explain but he left the room and came back some time later.

Taken from a transcript of court proceedings

optilang

Accents

Clive

#516227 Tue, 20 May 08 09:44 PM

Hi,

'to get something across (to someone)'

'something comes across (to someone)'

These are two pretty different expressions, although they both feature the word 'across'.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Expressions, Accents

optilang

#516230 Tue, 20 May 08 09:51 PM

But if you get something across to someone it must have come across to them if they got it!

The point here is that he didn't succeed in getting his accent across to the audience - despite speaking slowly the audience were unable to understand his accent and as a result could not comprehend what he was saying. The audience were unable to accept his accent!

optilang

Accents

Grammar Geek

#516241 Tue, 20 May 08 10:09 PM

Sorry to join the fray, but I'm right with Khoff on this. Probably, the only thing that DID make it through to the audience was the accent, not the message. In the original, it sounds like he wasn't able to convince them he was Irish.

As Clive says, "get across" and "come across" are different expressions.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,568)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Expressions, Accents

optilang

#516247 Tue, 20 May 08 10:19 PM

It is not clear from the sentence whether the audience did or did not 'get' his Irish accent - it may have been such that his accent was totally incomprehensible, even to the point that the audience were not able to recognise his accent as being Irish. He couldn't get his accent across - so - his accent didn't come across to the audience in a way that was clear.

What we do know from this sentence is that the audience had difficulty in understanding what he was saying

optilang

Accents