Search results for 'tag:Difference between tag:Idioms' matching tags 'Difference between' and 'Idioms'

Re: what is the difference between "send" and "send in"?

Avangi — Mon, 12 May 2008 02:08:24 GMT

Good question, b-c,

I think there's a sequence involved here. Everybody's been poised to go in, sort of like an invasion. The mission is on hold because of political considerations. "Send in" is sort of an idiom like "go in."

Shall we send them in now, or shall we wait awhile?

Send in the paratroopers vs. send the paratroopers. It's more dramatic with "in."

Under more normal circumstances, we'd say "Many countries are sending relief teams and disaster experts."

Prepositions lead to endless contradictory examples, but in general, I'd say you may choose to use "send in" when you're sending someone "into" some kind of a place, like a country or a house or an office.

Mr. Jones is here to see you, sir. (reply) Please send him in.

Best wishes, - A.

idiom: hold the fort

JCDenton — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 07:26:51 GMT

Hi my englishforums friends,

I'm currently making a subtitles to my favourite movie in order to improve my english
and I came across there to very interresting idiom:"hold the fort". It means take someones
duty or responsibility in his absence...

That particular person said

Hold down the fort for an hour.
I've just got to take care of some stuff.

Anyway, please what is the difference between just hold the fort and hold down the fort?? I don't feel
the difference between these two phrases, but maybe there is something...I don't know.

thank you in advance.

With regards

JCD

Re: can or could

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:22:20 GMT

Liveinjapan
Could anyone tell me the difference between the sentences below?

How do I look?

How do I look like?

What do I look like?

how and like are mutually exclusive. You cannot have both in these sorts of expressions. Once you use how, you must suppress like. So *How do I look like is impossible!

how? and like what? mean almost the same thing when the verb is look. But there are important differences. Note the groupings below.

Susan looks [sad]. *Susan looks [how]? [How] does Susan look?

Susan looks like [a clown]. *Susan looks like [what]? [What] does Susan look like?

Susan looks [like a clown]. *Susan looks [like what]? *Susan looks [how]? [How] does Susan look?

_______

[How] does Susan look? She looks [sad].

[How] does Susan look? She looks [like a clown].

[What] does Susan look like? She looks like [a clown].

__________

So How? substitutes for an adverbial expression -- which can be a prepositional phrase "like ..." or a single word adverb or any other appropriate adverbial expression.

And What? (in "like what?") substitutes for a noun -- which can only be the noun that fits after the preposition like.

_________

What makes this difficult if you are imitating the speech of natives is that the missing (fourth) pattern is not quite right logically, but people do use it anyway, treating the combination as an idiom.

[What] does Susan look [like]? She looks [sad].

Re: business slang

Grammar Geek — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 03:11:57 GMT

Oh my goodness. I'm going to try to interject a few of Mr. M's at work and see what happens. It was like "MadLibs for business jargon"

I think you may want to differentiate between absurd business jargon that makes us all roll our eyes (like "we're engaged in our visioning process to see how we can leverage our human capital for a synergistic solution") and idioms that are used in the business world that may require a bit of an explanation.

On the other hand, maybe the only difference between the two types is that the second set has been around longer and we all rolled our eyes when they first came out too. A lot come from sports and war.

Re: idiom VS proverbs

Clive — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:58:14 GMT

Hi,

what is the difference between a saying and a proverb?

In practice, there's often not much difference.

My Oxford dictionary says this.

proverb - a short pithy saying in general use, held to embody a general truth.

You might like to note that we sometimes introduce a proverb by saying 'As the saying goes, (eg) a rolling stone gathers no moss'.

Clive

Re: idiom VS proverbs

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:07:55 GMT

Ok. My question is what is the difference between a saying and a proberb?

Re: out of reach of/for

Avangi — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:33:23 GMT

New2grammar wrote:

What's the difference between 'out of reach of' and 'out of reach for'?

For example,

Keep all sharp object out of reach of children.

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is out of reach for minimum wage earners.

Thanks in advance!

Hi N2g,

(just gessing) The first one seems to be more literal - out of [the] reach of children (physical reach) Whose reach?

In the second one the use is more figurative. "Out of reach" becomes an expression or an idiom. It describes the condition. It's too expensive. For whom?

Regards, - A.

Re: asking for English idioms expressing this situation

Pchuang — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:28:51 GMT

Thanks for your reply. I do understand that there is a difference between cultures, but I am still hoping there are something we share in our lives.

Re: What is the difference between "Talk"(VERB) and "Speak"(VERB)

Hoa Thai — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:53:06 GMT

Hi,

When I first learned English, hear and listen were clear to me. The later requires the attentiveness of a listener. However, talk and speak ran my teacher in circle. He took an English-Vietnamese dictionary and told us to stick with the translation and then he failed to reason why some English sentences we presented to him begged for different interpretation! Today seeing this question again, I dearly miss him for the pain he went through trying to give us a bit of his knowledge. Therefore, I thought maybe this is a good opportunity for me to go through what he went through.

Please allow me to deduct slowly.

1. Talk and speak are both voice related, so sound making cannot be contributed solely to either one.

2. We can attach preposition of or about to both talk and speak. Therefore, neither word owns the right to content.

3. When we speak or talk, we could be interrupted for questioning. Of course, we can also attach preposition to or with to both of them Therefore, neither word owns the right to interaction either.

4. When a baby utters the first sound that is similar to a word we know, we excitedly say, âs/he speaks.â When the baby can string a few words together, in responding to the surrounding stimulating environment, either to a toy or to people, we claim, âs/he talks.â Talk seems to win the conversational aspect (two-way communication goes with talk albeit the listener might not say a word â uni-directional delivery goes with speak).

5. We speak a language; we donât talk a language unless we mean knowing how to speak in (e.g., talk French â idiom). Again, in this case, speak is confined to the speaker (i.e., one-way).

6 When we phone people (i.e., we initiate the connection):
- Most often we donât know whether the person we phone is available or not, we say, âIs â¦ there?â, or politely âMay / Could I speak to â¦â (again, one-way).-
- However, if we yearn for a conversation / an exchange, we ask, âMay I talk to â¦â (two-way).

7. When we suggest people to listen to a speech, we might say,â listen to his talkâ but virtually none âlisten to his speak.â Talk seems to require more attention than speak. It requires the listeners to connect, to feel, to understand.. (one-way delivery, two-way sharing).

8. âSpeaker of the houseâ not âTalker of the houseâ- (uni-voice).

Inference:

talk: bi-directional communication.
speak: uni-directional communication.

Cheers,
Hoa Thai

Re: What is the difference between "Talk"(VERB) and "Speak"(VERB)

Edison1610 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:52:34 GMT

They talked for a while.
(they were in conversation)
They speaked for a while.
(they made sound)

He is talking about the issue.
He is speaking of the issue.
(both are the same but the prepositions are different)

They talk business.
(they discuss business)
They speak business
(wrong)

Money talks.
(idiom)
Money speaks.
(we don't use it in this way)

He cannot speak.
(he is unable to speak)
He cannot talk.
(he can speak but cannot talk, e.g. he has no power in front of boss)

He speaks to her.
He talks to her.
(both are the same)