Timeline for How do I use “stumbling block” in a sentence?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Jun 22, 2016 at 13:23 | comment | added | Alan Carmack | @dbliss How is the OED out of touch or outdated when it says rare? That's a rhetorical question. Besides, I just used the the word stumbling block in my answer in a literal way. Anyway, I believe you are being too dogmatic in your comment, but last time I said that, the comment got deleted. | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:50 | history | edited | Alan Carmack | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:47 | comment | added | abcd | @AlanCarmack only case in which it would be used in modern America is if the speaker were making a (not all that funny) joke -- as in, ha, look at that, a literal stumbling block. the OED is not God. on this issue, it's out-dated or out-of-touch. | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:43 | comment | added | Alan Carmack | @dbliss The OED lists the literal usage of block as in "stumbling block" as rare, not impossible. | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:41 | history | edited | Alan Carmack | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:39 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | @Epicedion - It might be fair to say "a block holds back water in the reservoir," but more often than not we'd call that block a dam. | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:23 | comment | added | abcd | this answer is way too charitable to the literal usage. no one would ever use the phrase "stumbling block" to refer to a physical block of wood that causes one to literally stumble. they would say, "watch out for that block of wood," or something like that. never "watch out for that stumbling block." | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:13 | comment | added | Epicedion | Incidentally, it would be fair to say "A block holds back water in the reservoir." There's no need for the block to cause stumbling in that case. | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 18:12 | history | edited | Alan Carmack | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jun 21, 2016 at 17:40 | comment | added | Epicedion | A "stumbling block" is typically something that would figuratively cause you to stumble (trip). It can be a literal block that you might stumble on, but that's a rarer usage. Unless the 'stumbling block' is literally causing the water to trip on its feet and fall back into the reservoir, it's an incorrect usage, and the use of 'stumbling block' almost always refers to some sort of negative impediment causing an interruption of (positive) progress. As a counterpoint, you might say, "The amount of debris in the floodgate is a stumbling block preventing us from letting water out of the reservoir" | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 17:19 | comment | added | Whoa Yeah | Thanks for your answer. I was obsessed with FIGURATIVE meaning. But I want to know why A STUMBLING BLOCK HOLDS BACK WATER IN A RESERVOIR is not that clear sentence. My professor won't change his mind unless I prove why. He doesn't explain it to me. He just said it's correct sentence because he is correct. | |
| Jun 21, 2016 at 17:11 | history | edited | Alan Carmack | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jun 21, 2016 at 16:12 | vote | accept | Whoa Yeah | ||
| Jun 21, 2016 at 16:12 | |||||
| Jun 21, 2016 at 16:08 | history | answered | Alan Carmack | CC BY-SA 3.0 |