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

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: Let me pass!

Huevos — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:17:32 GMT

Kooyeen
I would say the idiom "Excuse me",

How is "excuse me" an idiom?

Clive
Joking aside, if you don't favour 'Excuse me, please', what is your suggestion for the most suitable thing to say?

It's not that I don't favour it, it's just that the question was "the most polite way". You, now and imperative are the most impolite forms in the language, and only the choice of verb saves this utterance. And even "please" doesn't fully soften up such a construction. Imagine a five-year-old child were to say: "Buy me a large bag of sweets now, please", how would you tell him to reprase that request to appear more polite.

The other problem with "excuse me" is it is ambiguous. What if the lady just replied "yes love".

set and done

New2grammar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:41:20 GMT

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 definition. My question is, is it a common expression and what does it generally mean? complete?
Thanks

More fool you that are puzzled by it

wholegrain — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:20:10 GMT

"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 has much to do with the below idiom.

More fool you! (British, American & Australian, American)

something that you say in order to show that you think someone has done something stupid. You lent her sixty pounds and expected it back? More fool you! 'He's volunteered to work late.' 'The more fool him, then.'

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:54 GMT

They won't smoke ever since they saw a film on lung cancer.

What does "won't" mean here?

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:49 GMT

http://forums.eslcafe.com/student/viewtopic.php?t=22113&highlight=

Re: bare-infinitive vs. to-infinitive

Philip — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:45:19 GMT

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 assistance and (b) is mediate assistance because 'bare-infinitive' in (a) - make - means 'coincidence' with the verb 'help' and 'to-inf' in (b) -to make- means 'future.'

What I want to know is

1. Do you natives really feel that way?

2. If not, please read this.

This is what I think. These two sentences has little, if any, differences between themselves. Because I believe language doesn't have any pre-decided rules.

If people pre-decided 'bare-infinitive' should be used in 'coincident' context and 'to-inf' in 'future' sense, so we should use 'bare-inf' in the sentence like 'Mary made her husband clean the bathroom,' HOW this idiom -Money makes the mare to go- is possible and still is used?

I mean, if there was a rule that prevented the use of 'to-inf' with causitive verb 'make' how was the idiom possible?

So I think people used 'to-inf' in the first place and then as English require complex nuances, there emerged 'bare-inf' with other nuances.

What do you think of my theory?

These are examples of the "causative" construction (cause someone to do something) and are not related to your original question. And to answer that original question,I see no difference in meaning between the two sentences.

Re: Idiom?

Delmobile — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:47:22 GMT

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.

Re: IS this sentence grammatically correct??

Cool Breeze — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 06:32:28 GMT

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 Philip

As I said, similar clause equivalents are very common in English. Some of them are so common that they have more or less become "idioms" and no one pays any attention to them. This is one of the commonest:

"He is an excellent tennis player with an excellent serve and he seldom makes a double mistake. Having said that, his second serve could be a little faster."

= After his second serve has said that, it could be a little harder. No one says: After saying that, his second serve could be a little faster even though the constructions are usulally interchangeable.

After saying that, he left.
After having said that, he left.
Having said that, he left.
After he had said that, he left.

The trouble is that no one knows where to draw the line. What is acceptable and what isn't? What is the actual subject in countless similar cases? In conversation no insurmountable problems occur. In legal documents and official treaties ambiguities may arise. English is not a good language for such purposes.

CB

Re: Why does workout mean physical exercise?

Vorpar — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:06:30 GMT

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 construction (where you have to lift heavy things) resembles lifting weights at a gym.