By Constructions, Idioms

The Chinese government has laid out a plan to transform selected cities into eco cities. The reporter at the scene said "How will this piece of land look when construction is set and done"I searched for the phrase set and done which I thought was an idiom but didn't find a...

"Some insinuation there." "More fool you that are puzzled by it." Herman Melville - The Confidence Man The above is an unusual construction. I've looked for such construction on google and it seems that no one used it except the author who wrote it. I don't think it...

Stenka25 wrote: There is really tricky problems in identifying the subtle differences between seemingly similar sentences like the below. (a) Joe helped Mary make a pizza. (b) Joe helped Mary to make a pizza. In one book, it says that an expert named Bolinger says (a) is immediate...

Could it possibly be "She doesn't know from stopping?" The "doesn't know from" construction comes to us from the Yiddish, and here is a absolutely fascinating thread on the topic.

Philip wrote:common sense "corrects" the intended meaning.C.B. Thanks for pointing this out. I love the way you exprssed it! I am seldom guilty of this common error myself, but I often don't catch it it others' writing. I guess I have a good deal of common sense.Hi PhilipAs I said, similar...

A lot of English idioms use prepositions to give the word a new meaning: shut down, shut up, work out, work up, break down, break up, etc. Sometimes the dictionary will tell you where the words came from, or you can look at an etymology website. My guess is that doing hard work like...

1. There is a boy and a girl in the playground. 2. There is a boy, a girl and an old man in the playground. 3. There is a boy and two girls in the playground. 4. There are two girls and a boy in the playground. Some language experts now regard there is as a fixed, unvarying idiom that can...

Teo wrote:1. No leaders worthy of the name ever existed but they were optimists. 2. There is no doubt but that it must be done. 3. I don't know but what I will go. Can anyone explain or paraphrase the above sentences?Paraphrasing: All leaders worthy of the name were optimistsThere is no doubt...