New answers tagged sentence-meaning
2
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Thank you for (spending / putting / taking) your time
In case you would like a more formal phrase, for instance used in a business context, a good alternative would be (GrammarHow):
Thank you for dedicating your time to our project
2
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What does "Why to not not start a startup" mean?
The author is being cute.
He is listing reasons that many people offer for not starting a business.
So the reasons are reasons not to start a business. If his goal was to stop you, he could just list ...
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3
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Always Almost vs Almost Always
DialFrost's answer is correct. I'm adding why.
As with most adverbs in English, "almost" modifies whatever comes after it.
I always [almost burn] myself when I cook.
I [almost always] burn ...
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Always Almost vs Almost Always
Yes there is a difference:
You nearly burn yourself every time you cook
You burn yourself nearly every time you cook
So the first means you nearly burn yourself all the time, but it does not ...
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0
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"Generations of pure-bloods, wizards all - more than *you* can say, I don't doubt!" meaning in this context
"Generations of pure-bloods, wizards all" is appositive to "us". It's understood that it's a description that applies to "us"; we are generations of pure-bloods. James K ...
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What does "the way something happens" means
Such texts are ambiguous, in the absence of clarifying context. The sentence
I hate the way he manipulates people.
can mean any of:
I hate the fact that he manipulates people.
I hate the manner in ...
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What does "the way something happens" means
"the way" refers to a particular manner in which he manipulates people. In other words, you hate how he manipulates people.
You think he manipulates people.
You think he manipulates people ...
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Is it rude to say you would not know what it is
The phrasing in your question taken literally means the interviewer asked you a question, and that you don't think the person you're speaking to knows what that question is. But that's rather obvious ...
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He mocked me for not speaking clearly - did "not speaking clearly" really happen ? or it is just a thought?
He mocked me for not speaking clearly.
Does this mean I did not speak clearly?
Yes, indeed, it does.
He laughed at me for not speaking clearly.
Same thing. You did not speak clearly.
for not x ...
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He mocked me for not speaking clearly - did "not speaking clearly" really happen ? or it is just a thought?
The sentence obviously says nothing at all about whether your speech was unclear as a fact generally agreed upon.
Context would obviously change this.
The microphone was defective, and Tom mocked me ...
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1
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Taylor offered him 500 dollars to do the work
Technically the sentence is ambiguous. It is possible (although unusual) that Taylor offered the unnamed "him" payment for a chance to do the work, possibly in hopes of gaining reputation. ...
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3
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What does “It’s presumptions of you” mean?
It's a malapropism. Either by the author or put in the character's mouth by the author.
Normally, one would expect
It’s presumptuous of you
which in context would have to mean that they are ...
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0
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"Once you have days that are 118, 99 feels amazing."
These are Fahrenheit (American) temperatures. 99 degrees F may seem hot most times but if you have had days at 118 degrees F then 99 feels cool. 99 degrees F is 37 normal degrees, and 118 F is 47 ...
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Did not went undisputed or go undisputed?
And rightly so.
Where you use the auxilliary "do" or "did" the verb which follows is - to all intents - an infinitive. So that is the form that you use.
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I don't get the structure and also the meaning of this sentence
I think it means two things that you conflate
To produce beef or broccoli for human consumption requires different land requirements. Brocolli is grown and then humans consume it but think of cattle ...
3
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to have confidence in sb
I don't know if this is cultural, but it seems very clear that in an organisation, confidence should go both ways.
The people at the bottom and the people at the top both have jobs to do. The ...
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3
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I don't like neither of them. (does this mean? = I do like either of them)
I don’t like neither of them
is not idiomatic. English tends to avoid double negatives because they are hard to parse.
If you are talking about logic, you can use the artificial language known as the ...
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1
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Use of "except on that day"
Since you are already talking about a specific Tuesday, the article is unnecessary ➞ "I can't take a lesson next Tuesday."
"Would like to" says more about your willingness than ...
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2
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Accepted
Under the/a threat of attack
Use the definite article.
Whether you say "threat of attack", or "threat of an attack" is irrelevant. Both of these noun phrases are using 'threat' in an abstract way, similar to ...
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Use of "except on that day"
In the UK it's usually the teacher who 'takes' the lesson. In the US it may be the student.
In the UK we might say,
I'm afraid I can't get to next Tuesday's lesson. Any other day
would be fine. Could ...
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An interpretation of "be to + infinitive" in Bertrand Russell's "The Conquest of Happiness"
are to + infinitive is used for something which is expected/should/must happen in the future.
Some simpler examples
They are to be here by eight.
The prisoners are to eat bread and water from now on.
...
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had an accident in our street
I agree with David and DialFrost about the ambiguity in your sentence. But when considering it, I found it useful to notice how small changes to your original affected that ambiguity. Consider:
We ...
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2
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had an accident in our street
It could mean either, without context the sentence is ambiguous.
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3
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had an accident in our street
This sentence is quite vague, you cannot tell whether you were involved in it, or it just happened to occur on your street. If you were involved, you might say:
We were in an accident (on our street) ...
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1
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entrepreneur vs. businessperson
The “entrepreneur” is someone who bears risk by starting something new. The newness may not lie in a fundamentally new idea. It may lie only in applying something old in a new place or with minor ...
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entrepreneur vs. businessperson
Usually an entrepreneur is also a businessman or businesswoman. But suppose John is an inventor. He has a new idea, and creates and patents a new product based on that idea. He sets up a business to ...
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0
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entrepreneur vs. businessperson
Let's discuss the differences between businessperson and entrepreneur:
A businessperson is anyone who manages, sets up, or runs a business of any kind. An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a ...
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5
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“If you are rested I would go,” I urged. Meaning?
You are correct, "I would" is a shortening of "if I were you I would." This is a less common sense of the word would: OED has it as a verbal phrase, P7 in "will," v.1, (...
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3
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Accepted
“If you are rested I would go,” I urged. Meaning?
More like "I would recommend that you go" or "I think you should go" than
"I would go if I were you."
The use of "urged" suggests the former meaning.
...
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0
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"how long is it since" vs. "how long ago"
There is no difference in meaning, not even in nuance.
How long … since
may be more common in speech and informal writing, and
How long ago did …
may be more common in formal writing, but I know ...
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1
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Help me to understand a long sentence
I suspect that this was an attempt to analyze and explain Tennyson's poem "Ulysses , particularly the third stanza and the closing lines, specifically:
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
...
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What are we in for today?
If you are 'in for' something (usually bad) it means that thing will happen to you soon.
I was caught stealing. I am in for a punishment when my father finds out. Our office has received 5000 orders. ...
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1
vote
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Rephrasing "The voice in his head that normally took him apart was cutting him some slack. Every now and then, it actually gave him some credit"
The voice in his head that normally took him apart was cutting him some slack. Every now and then, it actually gave him some credit.
I add to what @Michael Harvey has said.
to take somebody apart ...
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Rephrasing "The voice in his head that normally took him apart was cutting him some slack. Every now and then, it actually gave him some credit"
The voice in his head normally criticized him. However, now it was not doing that. In fact, every now and then, it even gave him some credit.
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1
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Accepted
Meaning of "he had a sense of her being very light, as if even the light puffs of breeze blowing this morning might send her sailing away"
He had a feeling that she was very light [like e.g. a feather], as if even the light puffs of breeze blowing this morning might send her sailing away like a dandelion gone to seed. - Have you ever ...
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Making sentence concise by removing "which is"
You are asking a question about style rather than grammar.
Your two sentences mean the same thing.
The sentence including “which is” is typical of spoken English. When people speak, words are produced ...
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2
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Accepted
How do you like to be managed?
It isn't very common for someone to ask another person how they liked being managed (i.e., the first point you mentioned). And at the same time, it is far more common for, say, a new manager to ask ...
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