Search results for 'tag:Articles tag:Idioms' matching tags 'Articles' and 'Idioms'

Re: Comes at too high a price...

Madhulk — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:01:18 GMT

Thanks, Philip!

But can you clarify me 'Come at too high a price'? Is it an idiom?

Because when I watched the episode I heard it as 'come at too high price'.

You know, without the indefinite article 'a'. And I thought of it to mean 'to face the consequences'.

But then I read the subs and noticed the presence of 'a'.

So can you analyse the whole thing for me?

Re: "any"-defining

Fandorin — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:18:36 GMT

Kooyeen

You can do that too, but it is not common, it's only used sometimes for emphasis. It's easy to build odd sentences that way, so I personally prefer to avoid using it that way, as a learner. When talking about one thing, using the article "a" (or "an") is the common way to say it...
Do you have a sister? Is there a hospital near here? I don't have a sister, you must be mistaking me for someone else...

I didn't consider uncountable nouns because they are not usually used in the plural, so they weren't part of our problem. I didn't consider idioms or exceptions either... I can think of a couple of them right now:
Is there any reason why you are not allowed to do that?
There isn't any way to find out the truth, I'm afraid.

The singular seems to be the idiomatic choice in those cases.

Yes, it's odd way not to use "a". Indeed, "any=some" implies itself plural noun to be used. So the difference in translation some of constructions in English seems to be slightly smoothed between two meanings you mentioned above. At least it's so in my language.

Re: "any"-defining

Kooyeen — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:23:38 GMT

Fandorin
There is no way to use "any" with singular in that meaning. Don't you think?

You can do that too, but it is not common, it's only used sometimes for emphasis. It's easy to build odd sentences that way, so I personally prefer to avoid using it that way, as a learner. When talking about one thing, using the article "a" (or "an") is the common way to say it...
Do you have a sister? Is there a hospital near here? I don't have a sister, you must be mistaking me for someone else...

I didn't consider uncountable nouns because they are not usually used in the plural, so they weren't part of our problem. I didn't consider idioms or exceptions either... I can think of a couple of them right now:
Is there any reason why you are not allowed to do that?
There isn't any way to find out the truth, I'm afraid.

The singular seems to be the idiomatic choice in those cases.

Re: Questions on modifiers

CalifJim — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:22:57 GMT

Anonymous
If a definition of the word "float" starts off like "a piece of wood or other light material that stays ...," do you think the article "a" modifies the word "material"?

No. It can't. other forces an uncountable interpretation on material, so the indefinite article a can't occur there.

_____

"another (number)" means "(number) more" or "(number) additional".

another three = three more = three additional

other is not used in this idiom.

We need another three chairs.

Henry bought another five books today.

Re: "a" or "the"

sophianz — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:45:18 GMT

Thank you for your reply, CalifJim.

It is difficult for me to understand idioms like that, especially when they have "a(n), the or no-article problems". All I can do is get used to them. I appreciate your answer.

Re: is in progress/on the way

MissMandy — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:32:52 GMT

The biggest error is that 51 will be followed by "st" instead of "th". You can tell because you would say it aloud "fifty-first". Also, "50 pages" does not need an article (a/an, or the) because it is plural, so that is correct, however, "51st page" will need the definite article "the" because it is singular and specific.

"In the way" means that it is an obstacle, "on the way" means it is in progress.

1. I have completed typing 50 pages and the 51st is in progress. (moved the word typing)
2. I have completed feeding data for 50 records and the 51st record is in progress/ is on the way.
3. I have completed 50 files and the 51st file is in progress/on the way.

Let me know if you'd like more reasoning behind the corrections. Good job with the present perfect and the idiom "on the way"! Those are both tricky.

Re: is in progress/on the way

MissMandy — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:32:36 GMT

The biggest error is that 51 will be followed by "st" instead of "th". You can tell because you would say it aloud "fifty-first". Also, "50 pages" does not need an article (a/an, or the) because it is plural, so that is correct, however, "51st page" will need the definite article "the" because it is singular and specific.

"In the way" means that it is an obstacle, "on the way" means it is in progress.

1. I have completed typing 50 pages and the 51st is in progress. (moved the word typing)
2. I have completed feeding data for 50 records and the 51st record is in progess/ is on the way.
3. I have completed 50 files and the 51st file is in progess/on the way.

Let me know if you'd like more reasoning behind the corrections. Good job with the present perfect and the idiom "on the way"! Those are both tricky.

Re: Conditional:Auxiliary Commentary Words?

Mister Micawber — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:44:18 GMT

.
Thank you. So if the word is specifically referenced to by context, we should use the definite article to indicate specifcity of it like you did with the noun 'power'. Is that right?-- Yes

You wrote this as an introducing part (if that is phrased right) to the examples:
I think they are unaffected, but I think also that the 'would's are incorrect:

I have hard time finding out how to pluralize words like"'would" or 'how are you?"You seemed to have attach an 's' after putting the word "would" in the quotation marks. Is it how it should be done? --Yes. I used single quote marks; double marks are more formally correct.

How about this? I think they are unaffected, but I think also that the "would's" are incorrect-- No

How about these?

I think that the '"do's and don'ts" are inappropriate to the situation.-- Yes. Do's and don'ts is an idiom. (Notice that for clarity we do not use a second apostrophe in "don't's")
I think that the "good morning's" are inappropriate.-- No
I think his "how are you's" are inappropriate. -- No. His "how are you"s are inappropriate. I don't think we need the "?".

Re: Is "truth" abstract noun or not? why?

Cool Breeze — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:09:49 GMT

Welcome to EF, mariappan

Truth is always an abstrcat noun because you can't put it on the scales and weigh it. It may occasionally be countable, which has nothing to do with being abstract. I may be wrong but I think it's the article (the) that you are concerned with? The article is used in the phrase to tell/speak the truth because normally there is only one truth. It's an idiom, one could say.

Looking for some tips and/or curriculum suggestions

mikesusangray — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:50:11 GMT

Hi all!

I've been giving English conversation lessons to a theology professor for about a year now. He's getting on in the years - a couple years from retirement - and his primary goal has been just to get his spoken English going a little stronger. His mother tongue is French but he's been teaching at a German language university for many years.

I'd like to add some more specific inputs to our lessons but I can't seem to find the right material. His passive skills are excellent - he reads widely and with perfect comprehension in his field - and he can communicate quite understandably. He is a linguistics specialist and can grasp any concept about the language immediately. I brought along Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use and he could plow through a chapter in five minutes with perfect conceptual comprehension.

However, he also continues to make very simple errors - for example, he has trouble choosing between present simple and continuous or often uses the present tense for past events. Sentence order tends to get wander hither and yon while definite and indefinite articles come and go with the tide. (Prepositions are a problem too, but I won't beat him to hard there - prepositions are difficult in any new language.) In many cases his mistakes are typical of French or German speech patterns.

One other limitation is that he enjoys the weekly lessons (a good hour), but doesn't have much time to study in between.

Right now we spend about 15 minutes reading a chapter from Advanced Grammar in Use and about 45 minutes talking about just about anything under the sun, while I take notes and show him problems under the categories Pronunciation/Articles & Prespositions/Word Order/Other Grammar/Vocabulary/Idioms. However, I don't think the work book is a good choice - particularly since he doesn't do the homework - and it seems like he isn't making very good progress with his typical problem patterns - though he greets them like old friends when I point them out.

Any tips here?