Questions tagged [sentence-meaning]
Use this tag for questions about meanings of whole sentences rather than phrases.
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try not to do sth vs. try to avoid doing sth
Try not to offend him from now on.
Try to avoid offending him from now on
Is there any shade of difference in the meanings of above 2 sentences?
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Usage of "requirement"
I've got the below question from one of my colleagues from the States.
The question is for A's executives sitting on a board of a foreign
subsidiary (B) of A, are there supervisory expectations or ...
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He has become a criminal and he has been a criminal
Suppose my friend John was a good person. He used to help others. But recently he has changed. He has become a criminal. Therefore I can say,
John has become a criminal.
We often use be in the place ...
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Noun replacement in the sentence with the verb "composed of"?
I was reading a book and there was a paragraph of explaining about a word composed of. There was few examples of its usage and I swap the word places in the sentences to improve my vocabulary. I want ...
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Should I use type or type of in this sentence
1. I must condemn your criminal type mentality.
2. I must condemn your criminal type of mentality.
Which one is grammatically correct and preferable?
Can I use kind of in the place of type of?
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I left the place without/before the situation getting worse
1. I left the place before the situation getting worse.
2. I left the place without the situation getting worse.
3. I had left the place before the situation got worse.
Are these sentences grammatical?...
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How do you say idiomatically that a clock on the wall is not showing the correct time?
A native Anglophone lady is showing around her house on TV. When they walk into a room, there is a big clock on the wall, and she points at the clock and says:
"That is not the time."
I ...
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I’ll spend whatever of time and energy may be mine. (How does this sentence sound?)
I’ll spend whatever of time and energy may be mine.
As a non-native speaker, when I read the sentence above, I thought it's redundant for no reasons.
If you are a native English speaker, what is the ...
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What does "and all" mean, and is it an idiom in this context?
This context comes from the movie "The Aviator" by Martin Scorsese.
It's a scene in which Katharine Hepburn And Howard Hughes arrive on a plane to Howard's house, after a date. Katherine ...
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Should we be using "could" and "definitely" in the same sentence?
Example,
"Hormonal imbalance could definitely affect a man's virility."
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Matt phoned while we were having dinner. (who did Matt phone?)
Matt phoned while we were having dinner.
Is it true that we can't say who Matt phoned?
1 version. Matt could phone them while they were having dinner.
2 version. Matt could phone from their house to ...
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Spoon Feeding is it negative or positive [closed]
Normally we use a phrase "spoon feeding"
Is it negative or positive phrase. or it's all about how we treat it.
Thank you so much!:)
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Can 'where's this coming from' mean 'why do you say this'?
If someone say something to you, and you wonder why they say that out of the blue, is it natural to ask 'where's this coming from'?
For example, Alan and Betty's relationship gradually gets better and ...
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What does "to fix a book" mean?
This context comes from the movie "The Aviator" by Martin Scorsese. It's from a scene that goes after another one, in which Howard Hughes tells his employee, Noah (who he hired to run his ...
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He was known for a great pioneer
He was known for a great pioneer.
Does the sentence look idiomatic?
I think 'as' instead for is more appropriate.
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Could you please explain the meaning of this sentence?
Always the more indulgent parent, the children were caught off guard
when their dad implemented such a restrictive curfew.
The first part of the sentence ('always the more indulgent parent') seems ...
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"Mother of Sara, who stabbed two citizens has been releaseed". "Sara's mother, who stabbed two citizens has been released"
"Mother of Sara, who stabbed two citizens has been released"
I assume in this sentence, it was sara who stabbed citizens but her mother has been released.
"Sara's mother,who stabbed two ...
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How to understand this sentence? "If the sequence of letters lexicographically precedes the first word on the page, we know to go backwards."
If the sequence of letters lexicographically precedes the first word on the page, we know to go backwards.
Why is it go backwards? I think it should be go forward. How to understand this sentence?
I ...
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What is the meaning of this sentence. "feared murdered'?
I saw this sentence on the internet. But past verb after past verb, (feared murdered)? I wanna know the meaning of this sentence. How can I translate this sentence?
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Set before & Examination meaning in a specific context
I'm reading a book about James Clerk Maxwell, and there is one passage that wrote
One great charm of Maxwell’s society was his readiness to converse
on almost any topic with those he was accustomed ...
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what that chance is based on how much they love or hate Ohio State
Some fans will have ideas about what that chance is based on how much they love or hate Ohio State.
Is the sentence normal?
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Is the phrase "I read that in Spock" correct?
This context comes from a part of Stephen King's book "The Shining" in which Wendy, Jack's wife, speaks to him about Danny, their son. She thinks Danny isn't eating enough lately and ...
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Does the position of WHEN change anything?
Lately I’ve been talking to him when he asked me about my wife on
purpose.
I am sure the sentence is wrong, because of "asked". It should be either ASKS or HAS ASKED. What if we change WHEN?...
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Does "would" imply a vague uncertainty to the statement below?
Statement 1:
"He would be willing to sign something assessing the liquidated damages of $100,000 to misfit boxing in the event he withdraws."
Statement 2:
"He will be willing to sign ...
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What does "make it for you special" mean?
This context comes from the second episode of "Game Of Thrones"
The conversation happens between a young girl, no more than twelve, and her older friend who brought her a present, which is a ...
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the difference 'to' and 'as to'
a suggestion or proposal as to the best course of action, especially one put forward by an authoritative body.
If I change as to to to, as this:
a suggestion or proposal to the best course of action,...
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"What are the two?" VS "What are they?" VS "What are those?"
Someone is interviewing people on the streets of London. One of them is like this:
A: How many languages do you speak?
B: Two.
A: What are the two?
The question "What are the two?" sounds ...
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Can I use 'such.. that' and 'such.. where' this way?
Let's look at the sentence.
He is such a bad person whom no one wants to talk to.
Is the sentence grammatically correct? If it's correct, can I rewrite the sentence as:
He is such a bad person that ...
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X supported by not all the XYZ
Please note that fenced code blocks, backslashed line blocks, numbered lists that start with a number other than 1, tables, footnotes, and HTML comments are supported by not all the Markdown ...
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What does the following statement mean?
"There's no city on God's green earth that rocks harder than Chicago."
Is the statement pertaining to the rich rock culture in chicago, or as in the party scene?
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I've worked here for two years vs I worked here for two years
Let's look at the sentence:
I've been working here for two years.
This sentence means that I'm still working. Right?
I have worked here for two years.
I worked here for two years.
What's the meaning ...
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She had her report done. (who did the report?) [closed]
She had her report done.
She did the report or someone else did the report?
'have' is a causative verb and here took the past participle as an object complement.
I wonder who really did the report ...
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Harry made Sally. (induce to have sex=make) [closed]
Harry made Sally.
Does this sentence mean? They already slept together or Harry tried but not yet succeeded?
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Which sentence is correct? [closed]
Is it give or gives?
“Looking back at these outros give me life.”
“Looking back at these outros gives me life.”
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We’ve had the house painted. (The house is already painted?) [closed]
We’ve had the house painted.
The house is already painted? or We don't know the status of the house?
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She's hoping that she won't be away too long [closed]
She(A) is hoping that she(B) won't be away too long.
A is the same person as B or A is different from B?
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Meaning of "My friend has come to our house yesterday"
My father went to Kolkata yesterday.
What does it mean? Is he still in Kolkata or somewhere else or he returned to home?
Let's think of another situation.
My friend came to our house yesterday and he ...
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"He might have gone to school" to refer both present and past
Suppose my friend and I come to his house and I ask him "Where is your brother?" He replies,
He might have gone to school.
Let's think of another situation again.
I come to my friend's ...
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She would have been Sapna
Let's think of a situation.
I'm talking to my father. He tells me that a girl came to our house yesterday and asked him about me. Now my father asks me "Who was she?" I'm not sure who she ...
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I don`t quite understand this sentence
The fugitive-act did not affect a foreign country which Virginia claimed to be and that she must reckon it one of the infelicitous of her position that insofar at least she was taken at her word
this ...
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Are there two different meanings in the sentence?
She cut plywood with sides of ten cm.
Are there two meanings in this sentence? I mean does it mean that she cut plywood that has sides of 10cm or she wants plywood to have sides of 10cm and cut it ...
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Does " Treat the people as you want to be treated" make sense [closed]
I was listening to a speech and then I found a sentence:
Treat the people as you want to be treated.
I think the sentence doesn't make sense. The correct one would be:
Treat the people how you want ...
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Can I omit 'to be' in "I consider him to be the best"
I consider him to be the best.
My question is if we can remove 'to be' from the sentence without the meaning being changed
:I consider him the best.
If the meaning remains same then why are their ...
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Placement of adverb and change in meaning
I know, that in English, changing the place of an adverb slightly changes the meaning of the sentence. For example: only. But for these three sentences, I can't get my head around the difference in ...
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What to say when you want someone to complete whatever they are doing and become available? "Get free" or "be free"?
So, I wanted to discuss something with my friend after he finished doing the dishes, so I said,
Get free first, then we'll talk.
But now I think it is not correct and "be free first" would ...
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What does she mean by this sentence: "I wouldn't have been a person that would have been able to be awful about the partner."
This is from the ITV, Loose Women Programme see 6:20-6:30.
The ladies talking about abortions that they had in the past, and when discussing the issue, one of them says:
"Do I want to be tied to ...
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"let alone" or "leave alone" in this sentence: ".....women have little say in who they marry - leave alone whether they want to marry at all."
This is from the BBC Proudly Single
But India remains a largely patriarchal society where more than 90% of marriages are arranged by family and women have little say in who they marry - leave alone ...
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What's the meaning of 'he is the boy to do it '
He is the boy to do it.
What's the meaning of this sentence?
He is the boy who does it.
Or, He is the boy who did it.
Or, He is the boy who will do it?
One more sentence is here.
He is the boy to ...
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Ram is the man I thought to have killed/ have killed my brother
Ram is the man I thought to have killed my brother.
Ram is the man I thought to kill my brother.
Ram is the man I thought have killed my brother.
Ram is the man I thought killed my brother.
Are ...
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I'm not as you think or I'm not as think I'm [closed]
Let's look at these sentences.
I'm not as you think I am.
You're more beautiful than you think you are.
Can I rewrite these sentences as:
I'm not as you think.
You're more beautiful than you think.
...
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