In Nouns^x, Idioms^x, Prepositions^x

. To vast a question, d_say-- and the sentences are already in English! DOWN: –adverb 1. from higher to lower; in descending direction or order; toward, into, or in a lower position: to come down the ladder. 2. on or to the ground, floor, or bottom: He fell down. 3. to or in...

Hi CB, I wouldn't know where to start! English grammar is pretty different from Italian grammar. However, there are a lot of similar words (one example: government - governo), and several similar structures and idioms. The problem is that there are also several false friends, and lots of...

. CJ

Sorry; I misspoke in my earlier post. Take care of is not a phrasal verb, it is just a verb phrase, a verbal idiom. Phrasal verbs consist of a verb + particle (adverb, preposition) which behave as a syntactic unit Make up (= invent) is a phrasal verb, and cannot take an internal adverb: Make...

They are a preposition and a noun, as you say, and not considered an idiom. You are right. CJ

What are the functions of "by" and "bus" in the sentence "I came here by bus."? I think their functions are literal, preposition and noun, but one of my colleagues is claiming that "by bus" is to be taken as one, like an diom or something to mean "riding". Who is right, me or my colleague?

OK may be you got confused with "idiomatic expression". By idiomatic Expression I meant idiomatic usage. A week before I used to think that idioms and idiomatic expression both are one and the same but thanks to CJ who explained it to me. This is what he said; An idiom is a group of words which...

GB, Please note that the person who called descendant of an idiom also misspelled descendant ! In comparing the combinations descendant of and descendant from , it would be correct to say that descendant of is the more idiomatic usage . This does not mean that descendant of is an idiom...

Grammarian-bot wrote: Is descendant of an idiom or a verb preposition combination? GB I am a descendant (noun) of (preposition) Hessian soldiers who came to the colonies to fight for the British during the American Revolution.

Hi Zhuricki No, the rules haven't changed and there is no difference between British and American English here. 'In search of' is a special idiomatic phrase and means the same thing as 'looking for' or 'seeking'. As is normally the case with idioms, 'in search of' is a fixed grouping of...