Timeline for How common is the verb "wear down" and what proficiency level does it correspond to?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 20, 2023 at 21:03 | vote | accept | Ali Ent | ||
| Jun 19, 2023 at 20:40 | answer | added | gotube♦ | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 16, 2023 at 23:30 | comment | added | Billy Kerr | It's quite a common phrasal verb. There have been many questions here on ELL about phrasal verbs, I think probably because many of them are idiomatic/figurative in nature, and many don't have a literal meaning that can be easily deduced, and some have multiple meanings that depend on context. They are certainly difficult if you don't already know them. However, they are a very import part of English, especially spoken/colloquial English - it's filled with them. | |
| Jun 16, 2023 at 19:56 | answer | added | user8356 | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 16, 2023 at 14:10 | history | edited | Peter Jennings | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
replace textese with English
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| Jun 16, 2023 at 12:42 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jul 2, 2023 at 3:08 | |||||
| Jun 16, 2023 at 12:41 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | ...In an ideal world you'd want to concentrate on spoken English. But unless you have native Anglophone speakers on hand to interact with, who don't mind having you struggle with a language barrier, that won't necessarily be very practical. It's much more difficult for a non-Anglophone to follow spoken English in a non-interactive context (listening to the radio, say), because you can't ask for things to be repeated or explained (or even just spoken more clearly). | |
| Jun 16, 2023 at 12:36 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | AliEnt: I think at that level, you shouldn't need to be looking at prepared lists of expressions to learn. Just read as much English text as you can - not necessarily books, but at least the advantage with a book is if you find you constantly need to look things up, you can choose to switch to a different book that's easier to understand (you can't really enjoy a book if you have to consult a dictionary every other sentence). If, say, Harry Potter books are too difficult (or just not interesting to you), choose something that better suits your preferences and language proficiency. | |
| Jun 16, 2023 at 12:22 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | Google search: "wear down meaning" - first result: Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages - wear down phrasal verb of wear - overcome someone or something by persistence. "they wore down their opponents to win the marathon match that lasted more than two hours" | |
| Jun 16, 2023 at 11:19 | comment | added | Ali Ent | Thanks for your response. Is it worth learning these kinds of colloquial verbs for speaking? And is there a book or source to learn them? | |
| Jun 16, 2023 at 11:03 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I'd say it's a relatively colloquial "somewhat idiomatic" usage that probably shouldn't be included anywhere in a list of "expressions that are worth addressing in a TEFL context". At the level where it might be appropriate, I think you'd need to know English well enough to (a) - figure out the figurative meaning for yourself, and (b) - understand essentially the same usage expressed as, for example, grind someone down. Plus related metaphoric usages such as sap someone's strength or drain them. | |
| S Jun 16, 2023 at 10:53 | review | First questions | |||
| Jun 19, 2023 at 20:41 | |||||
| S Jun 16, 2023 at 10:53 | history | asked | Ali Ent | CC BY-SA 4.0 |