Search results for 'tag:Expressions tag:Plurals' matching tags 'Expressions' and 'Plurals'

Re: fell on black days

Avangi — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:44:23 GMT

Hi Newguest,

Somebody may know this specifically. To me it sounds like the old expression, "I fell on hard times." It's also rendered, "hard times befell me."

Black days are universally known as days when terrible things happen, or days when everything goes wrong for a person. The day when the US stock market crashed in 1929 is still remembered as Black Tuesday. So it could be bad for a country or bad for a town or bad for the world or bad for a single person. Since your example is in the plural, it reminded me particularly of "hard times."

- A.

Re: singular / plural

Anonymous — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:52:44 GMT

This is an example of a grammar issue that is made difficult because frequent usage of the "a lot" construction in informal conversation makes it tricky to say what is correct based on how it "sounds." Whether the nouns are countable/uncountable or singular/plural is beside the point; as they are part of a prepositional phrase, they are really only serving as part of a modifier. "Lot" is the noun to be concerned with.

You wouldn't say, "There were a group of children at the playground." "Group" implies many children, but the noun itself is singular. It *would* be correct to say, "There were several groups of children at the playground," however. The expression "a lot" works similarly.

Re: superative and article

Avangi — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:55:21 GMT

Yes, you need the definite article before a superlative, whether the noun it modifies is singular or plural. the most beautiful girl/girls

Top gun; top dog are fixed expressions when used without an article. Ultimate climber/climbers may be a fixed expression, but I haven't heard it. If so, and the plural uses no article, I believe the singular would use the indefinite article. They are ultimate climbers. He is an ultimate climber (possible fixed expression.) They are the ultimate climbers. He is the ultimate climber. (superlative)

- A.

Memos show Clinton turmoil

Jackson6612 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:05:10 GMT

Memos show Clinton turmoil

Question: I would have written ''Clinton's turmoil''. Why didn't the author use apostrophe?

BY CRAIG GORDON AND TOM BRUNE | <email addresses removed by mod.>
August 13, 2008

Question: Why is semicolon used instead of comma to separate the email addresses above?

WASHINGTON - In a fresh postmortem (=an examination of a plan or event that failed, done to discover why it failed, =autopsy) on Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid (=attempt to obtain or do something), newly published staff memos (=a short official note to another person in the same company or organization) and e-mails reveal a campaign hobbled (=to hobble something or someone means to make it more difficult for them to be successful or to achieve what they want) by internal rivalries (=a situation in which two or more people, teams, or companies are competing for something), faulty planning, bloated (=more than needed, =excessive) spending - and perhaps most important, Clinton's own failure to make the hard decisions.

Clinton offered herself to voters as a hyper-competent (=extra competent) executive ready to be president from day one. But atop (=on top of something) her own campaign, she was a hesitant leader, who allowed bitter infighting (=when members of the same group or organization argue, or compete with each other in an unfriendly way) to fester (=If an argument or bad feeling festers, it continues so that feelings of hate or dissatisfaction increase) among staffers over whether to go negative against Barack Obama, according to the Atlantic magazine.

The most bare-knuckled (=characterized by disorderly action and disregard for rules) lines of attack came from Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, who urged Clinton to highlight Obama's "lack of American roots" due to his upbringing in Indonesia and Hawaii - saying he could only win if he faced Attila the Hun ((?406-453 AD) a king of the Huns (=an ancient people from Asia) who attacked and took control of large parts of the Roman Empire. He is famous for being violent and cruel).

But Clinton didn't embrace Penn's flag-waving (=the expression of strong national feelings, especially when these feelings seem too extreme) approach (=way of doing something), which campaign aides (=someone whose job is to help someone who has an important job, especially a politician) insist was never seriously considered.

Question: Clinton didn't embrace Penn's approach because she did not consider it seriously. Therefore, what campaign aides were saying is redundant.

The article also says that Clinton at times grew frustrated and short-tempered - including on the morning after her stunning third-place finish in Iowa in January, when aides on a call were silent. Clinton's camp dismissed the story as "inside-the-Beltway gossip" and "old news." And former campaign aides sharply disputed the notion of Clinton as an indecisive leader, with one campaign veteran saying, "Nobody seems to want to remember the fact that we had so many successes and come-from-behind victories in this campaign ... and they are due in large part to Senator Clinton's leadership."

Question: What does the line including on the morning...when aides on a call were silent mean? If she finished third place, then why would the author describe it as stunning? What does call mean in when aides on a call were silent?

Question: What does the phrase inside-the-Beltway gossip mean?

Question: What does the line Nobody seems to want to remember...to Senator Clinton's leadership'' mean?

But the e-mails and memos offer vivid (=very clear and detailed) new details about what had long been reported - that Clinton's headquarters was beset (=to make someone experience serious problems or dangers) by caustic (=bitter) internal battles involving Penn and former President Bill Clinton, who wanted to forcefully attack Obama, and others who wanted the New York senator to take a more positive tack (=method, =way of doing something). At one point, it was Bill Clinton - and not Hillary - who approved the famed 3 a.m. phone call ad.

Question: what had long been reported is passive past perfect tense. Am I right?

Question: I think headquarters should take plural verb. What do you say?

Question: Why are the hyphens used in -and not Hillary-? I believe commas would do instead?

Adding to the turmoil was the fact that the campaign had little strategy and no money left to seriously compete in the post-Super Tuesday contests - having (=the form having with a past participle can be used to introduce a clause in which you mention an action which had already happened before another action began) burned through $106 million before Iowa. That allowed Obama to win 12 straight contests and effectively wrap up (=to finish a job, meeting etc) the nomination.

Question: What does burned through mean?

In the end, the campaign's strategy came to reflect some of the internal turmoil, as Clinton veered (=changed course) from attacking Obama to emphasizing her personal side.

Question: What does her personal side mean?

Penn did offer some advice in March 2007 that proved on the mark - Clinton's path to victory lay with women and lower- and working-class voters.

Question: What does proved on the mark mean? I couldn't find it in the dictionary.

But by the time Clinton finally settled on that strategy to win the later primaries, it was too late.

Excerpts from the memos

"All of these articles about his boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared towards showing his background is diverse, multicultural and putting that in a new light ... It also exposes a very strong weakness for him - his roots to basic American values and culture are at best (=even when considered in the most positive way) limited. I cannot imagine America electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values." Strategist Mark Penn, from a March 19, 2007, memo to Hillary Rodham Clinton advising her to attack Barack Obama for his "lack of American roots."

Question: What does centre mean in the above context?

"The right knows Obama is unelectable except perhaps against Attila the Hun, and a third party would come in then anyway." Penn, from the same memo.

Question: Does right refer to right wing in the above context?

"This has been a very instructive call, talking to myself." Clinton, before angrily hanging up on a staff conference call the day after coming in third in Iowa in January. "She complained of being outmaneuvered (=to gain an advantage over someone by using cleverer or more skilful plans or methods) in Iowa and being painted as the establishment candidate," according to the Atlantic - but was met with near-silence.

Question: I would have written This has been..., talking to me. Why did she use myself?

Question: What is a conference call? Is it some kind of telephone call which address many poeple?

Question: Why is in used in coming in third?

"STOP IT!! I have help my tongue for weeks. After this morning's WP story, no longer. This makes me sick. This circular firing squad that is occurring is unattractive, unprofessional, unconscionable, and unacceptable ... It must stop." Robert Barnett, a Clinton lawyer and Washington insider, from a March 6, 2008, e-mail to campaign staff after a Washington Post story detailed the infighting.

Question: What does I have help my tongue for weeks mean?

Question: What does This circular firing squad mean?

Question: Were the comments in the last paragraph made by Robert Barnett?

Re: busy interviewing the victims and eyewitnesses

Abil — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:27:47 GMT

Avangi
Hi Abil,

There's no point in making "cross-section" plural.Â I've never seen it.Â I guess you want to say that over several days they've exchanged views with cross-section A, cross section B, cross section C, etc., as opposed to spending several days exchanging views with the same big cross section.Â I think we'd naturally assume the exchanges were with individuals and small groups, at different times, representing a cross section.Â Yours would not be a common usage.

"Civil society members" and "communal tensions" are not expressions I have ever heard.Â What do you wish to describe?

"in the evening of the following day before leaving" is confusing as all get-out!

Thanks Avangi for your comment.

1. Cross-section has plural "cross-sections" (Collins COBUILD ENGLISH DICTIONARY)

2. Intellectuals, cultural personalities, NGO bosses etc are generally referred to as civil society members, as opposed to the state actors or government officers.

3. Communal tensions are tensions between two ethnic or religious communities.

4. I should have said "wrap up their fact finding activities or something like that on 20 Augsut" and not "wrap up the visit" because the team's visit covers the press conference as well.

Re: busy interviewing the victims and eyewitnesses

Avangi — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:12:50 GMT

Hi Abil,

There's no point in making "cross-section" plural. I've never seen it. I guess you want to say that over several days they've exchanged views with cross-section A, cross section B, cross section C, etc., as opposed to spending several days exchanging views with the same big cross section. I think we'd naturally assume the exchanges were with individuals and small groups, at different times, representing a cross section. Yours would not be a common usage.

"Civil society members" and "communal tensions" are not expressions I have ever heard. What do you wish to describe?

"in the evening of the following day before leaving" is confusing as all get-out!

Best wishes, - A.

Re: Noun number and determiner

Clive — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:50:44 GMT

Hi,
. . . friends, I feel there is more to the explanation of it.
What are noun numbers tI'm no familiar with this expression. To me, it sounds like a way of talking about singular/plural.

and determiners? Have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determiner_(class)

Let me assure you that if you say things like 'He's pulling my legs / one of my legs/ a leg', it will sound very odd and quite amusing to nstive speakers.

Best wishes again, Clive

Re: 1)What is the adj that best describes sb who are willing to forget their origin?

Avangi — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:09:34 GMT

1. "forgetful"

2. "food stuffs" is a fixed expression. It's thought of as countable, and plural as to varieties, not individual units, if I understand correctly.

- A.

Edit. MW Unabridged lists "foodstuff" as one word. They seem to "agree" with me that plural indicates multiple varieties of foodstuffs, rather than multiple portions of the same foodstuff.

I think of "a foodstuff" as, eg. flour, which of itself is uncountable. "Flour and sugar" would be foodstuffs. Two barrels of flour would be "foodstuff." Two barrels of flour and two barrels of sugar would be "foodstuffs."

I think you could say, "the truck delivered five tons of foodstuffs to the encampment." In this sense, "foodstuffs" would be uncountable. I grant you, it's very confusing.

Perhaps someone else can make this more clear. It's not actually one of my words.

Re: if you were

Kooyeen — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:56:37 GMT

Oops, I missed that. I think you usually use the singular, because people usually use those kinds of expressions to talk about a general situation, a position shared by several people that is the same for all of them. So I would take "position" as a way to say "situation".
People over there are very poor. If I were in their position... (one situation: they're poor)
And I think the plural could be used if there were several situations involved, but I think such contexts are less likely.

Just my opinion.

Re: a surprisingly high percentage of the time

Avangi — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:44:46 GMT

It's sort of a fixed expression. "most of the time" = "in most cases"

The parameters may be established by context, but otherwise it would mean "overall" - out of all cases considered, most of them showed the specified result.

You would almost think the expression should be, "most of the times" (plural), as in "How many times have I told you not to do that?"

In the example you give, yes, the time(s) would be the instances of the "tests."

- A.