Search results for 'tag:Phrasal verbs tag:Pronunciation' matching tags 'Phrasal verbs' and 'Pronunciation'

Re: Turn or Turn in

Yankee — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:33:36 GMT

Teo wrote:
1. Turn your student book to the pronunciation guide on page 4.

2. Turn in your student book to the pronunciation guide on page 4.

Which of the above sentences is acceptable?

I also think both sentences are OK. To lessen the possibility of misunderstanding turn as the phrasal verb turn in, you could change the word order of sentence 2:
2a. Turn to the pronunciation guide on page 4 in your student book.

Re: Questions for non-native speakers of English.

WaÃ¯ti — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 11:50:17 GMT

Hiya YC,
It sure feels good that a native shows interest in how we perceive english... Let me try to understand the best I can...

Specific elements of language posing problem :
I'm comfortable with tenses and conjugation. I find myself sometimes troubled with vocabulary and spelling ; whenever the word is close to one in my mother tongue with a different meaning or spelling (faux-ami).
A main difference I've found compared to my native language is the extensive use of phrasal verbs. It took me some time to start thinking in terms of phrasal verbs rather than trying to find a corresponding latin-derived verb that often exists but makes you sound a little bit 'off-key' if not pretentious.
Written vs spoken english :
I definitely find spoken english more difficult. Too much difference b/w the various accents (US vs UK, even within UK or within US. Also I have difficulties with relaxed speech forms of spoken english (contractions, elisions and so forth...).
Pronunciation and stressing the right syllable of the word is another thing I'm still struggling with : it's kind of frustrating when you know the word and how to spell it but still nobody understands you because you don't emphasize the right syllable.
How english sounds :
To my ear, it does not sound like or compare to anything else. Or I should say it's hard to remember my early stages in learning english where it may have sounded weird or where I may have mistaken it for something else. Definitely not a harsh language. I'd say 'mellow' is what comes to my mind. Also 'efficient' (or is it 'effective') as I find it a powerful tool to express thoughts in a concise way.

Hope this answers the questions from your survey.
WaÃ¯ti.

Bottle

MrPedantic — Fri, 20 May 2005 13:47:49 GMT

I'd say 'to' fits quite well.

As for bottling...I've only heard 'bottle off' in this kind of connection:

1. The band played abysmally, and were bottled off the stage.

i.e. they were forced to retreat in a hail of beer bottles.

Related verbs are 'bottle out', 'to have lost one's bottle', 'bottle it', e.g.

2. We was all going to go down The Den on Saturday afternoon and sort out Millwall, but MrP bottled out.

(= We were planning to visit Millwall Football Club's ground on Saturday afternoon and indulge in fisticuffs with some of their supporters, but MrP suddenly remembered a previous engagement and decided not to accompany us.)

3. Sounds to me like MrP's lost his bottle.

(= I very much fear that MrP no longer has the stomach for a frank exchange of blows.)

4. Yeah, an' that ain't the first time he's bottled it, either.

(= I agree; especially in view of the fact that on previous occasions he has shown a similar reluctance.)

Here's some more info, from the Oxford Dictionary of New Words:

bottle noun
In British slang: courage, spirit, guts. Usually in phrases such as have (got) a lot of bottle, to be spirited or courageous; to have guts; lose one's bottle, to lose one's nerve (and so as a phrasal verb bottle out, to lose one's nerve; to pull out, especially at the last minute).

Etymology:
The phrase no bottle has been used in underworld slang to mean 'no use, worthless' since the middle of the nineteenth century; it is likely that this was reinterpreted this century to mean 'lacking substance or spirit', and that from there bottle started to be used on its own and eventually to be incorporated into new phrases.

The rhyming slang expression bottle and glass for 'arse' is often assumed to have something to do with these expressions (in which case bottle would be more strictly 'guts'), but this may be no more than popular speculation.

History and Usage:
These phrases, which are essentially part of the spoken language, started to appear in written sources in the sixties as representations of Cockney or underworld speech. Their use was reinforced by a milk marketing campaign in the early eighties, the caption for which read 'It's gotta lotta bottle', and by television series such as Minder, in which Cockney expressions were brought to a wide audience.

Bottle out did not appear in the written language at all until the very end of the seventies (at about the same time as this series was first shown).

Goodness, was I going to give her a bad time! Of course, when it got down to it, I bottled out completely.
Robert McLiam Wilson Ripley Bogle (1989), p. 162

You appear not to have the bottle, courtesy or wherewithal to actually approach her in person.
Just Seventeen Dec. 1989, p. 22

Some of the warders lost their bottle and just fled.
News of the World 8 Apr. 1990, p. 6

I'd add:

Pronunciation:
Almost invariably with a central glottal stop.

MrP