New answers tagged sentence-meaning
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It's not different than how "the" is used in general. I would say (1) if the fact that there was information was new to the person I was speaking to.
I would not say (2) without any context. I would say it if the information had already been mentioned in the conversation, or the person I was speaking to was already aware of its existence from some ...
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I think both of these are correct and they have the same meaning. Neither one strikes me as informal.
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You could split that up, using the semicolons as cues, into:
For sessions the preview shows the active panes in as many windows will fit
For windows the preview shows the active panes in as many panes will fit
For panes the preview shows only the selected pane
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It is full of metaphor, and some depends on your interpretation, which is a matter for literary analysis, not English learning.
"Churning" is rapid mixing. Here it seems to be used to mean "repeatedly rolling over" in the way that someone who can't sleep will roll over in bed.
A "loose end" is a matter that is unfinished, and &...
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Here is a summary of the sentence in bold.
The Doctor's method of investigating a paranormal/psychic phenomenon was in line with the leisurely Victorian life. Another reason for the Doctor's approach may be that proper research work involving documentation may not be a popular method to determine reality.
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It means that some people suppose Larks and Katydids to be able to dream.
Another way of saying that would be "Some people believe that even larks and katydids can dream."
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To stand on one's own two feet means to be strong and independent. If the statement has not been remembered correctly this is a possible reading, and would mean the woman was good-looking, strong and independent, all presumably admirable qualities.
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You mean a translation of a quote from La Rochefoucauld!
To paraphrase: "The reason that man fails to succeed is more often a lack of will than a lack of means." (Want in this context means lack, so you don't need both words.)
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The sentence as a whole looks as if it is badly written or badly remembered. But the general phrase to "stand on one's feet," is quite common, at least in America. You normally hear it in this context:
I've been standing on my feet all day.
The speaker might be a restaurant server or a salesperson, and the point is to explain why their feet or ...
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Song lyrics can be difficult to analyze since the artist often compromises clarity in order to fit the structure of a song but I'll give it a shot. Basically, he's saying that he knows what is right, implying he should do what is right, but also recognizing that doing what is right might not work out to his benefit and 'get him'.
Often 'to get someone' ...
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Generally, this meaning of "get me" is something like "affect me in a strong way, unexpectedly".
I'm normally easygoing, but screaming children really get me.
Here, it means screaming children irritate me a lot, where other things generally don't.
Titanic is a terrible movie, but when Jack dies, it gets me every time.
Here, it means I ...
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if is a conjunction It is used to express conditions or suppositions.
when is an adverb It is used to express that something happens, happened, or is happening at some point in time.
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Do you think a user will run the program? If you think "yes, they will" then use "When". If you think it is possible but you are not sure, the use "if".
When Jack comes home, I will give him this present. (I know Jack will come home)
If Jack comes home, I will give him this present. (It is possible that Jack won't come home)...
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From and to work together in English. From X identifies the start, and to X identifies the end.
We will work from 8am to 5pm.
One meaning of to X is identifying motion destination/where a motion ends. Work is moving starting from 8am and ending when 5pm occurs.
If the from X part is already known or understood, it can be omitted.
We will work to 5pm. (...
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Here, it is clear from context that Geralt is the one who is being torn from sleep. Specifically, Geralt is still in the process of waking up reluctantly as if removed forcibly from (torn out of) the sleeping state that Geralt was previously in (due to neck trauma).
Despite some grammatical ambiguity, it is clearly not the case that Geralt feels torn about ...
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You are currently not supersonic but I want to make you that way. This is from Queen's lyrics and the true meaning is that the singer wants to make you more that you currently are. He is full of life and wants you to be the same.
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"what good's" is a contraction for "what good is." Contractions are common in speech.
The meaning is: "If you have not been able to come to a conclusion after thinking about something for your entire adult life, you are extremely unlikely to reach a conclusion in the next few minutes."
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Most of them have the a similar meaning to "were you aware of the intonation pattern" with the exception of "find" and "discover" which have would a more "did you actively search for the intonation pattern" sense in that phrase.
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An "attendent risk" is a technical term from insurance, it means "a known risk you face by taking some action.
Risk first gives a seanario of a person planning a party. The attendant risks include "Ruining the cooking" or "Having the wrong ingredients". They are risks that arise because of the action of having a party.
...
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I don't see a problem with your interpretation of the text.
"Here I rallied, and had already improved so far as to be able to walk about the wards, and even to bask a little upon the verandah, when I was struck down by enteric fever, that curse of our Indian possessions." What is "when" doing here?
It indicates that what is being ...
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"When they first came" is understood to mean "at the start", and doesn't imply that they came a second time.
The problem with your second sentence is pronoun confusion. "They" in the first sentence means "the people". But in the second sentence "they" means "the masks". It is understandable, but ...
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It means that she shows almost no appreciation.
Without the aticle "a" preceding it, little has a negative meaning:
not as much as may be expected or wished for. (Cambridge)
Collins describes the quantifier little as meaning:
‘not much’
The students were given very little help with their projects.
Edward got little encouragement from his ...
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It helps to know this was published in 1835. Some words are being used in ways that are no longer common.
"Anticipate" here means something like, "Someone did it first."
"Design" means something like "goal" or "plan" and explains what was done first.
So I gather the whole meaning is something like this:
He ...
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Structured time is when the children have a particular timetable, for example going to an after-school club. A family might also structure homework time. "You do homework from 5:30 to 6:30..."
Unstructured time is when the children don't have anything particular to do, and can play, relax, watch tv etc. The suggestion is that the mother should ...
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This is a common usage in informal communication (because the speaker is thinking of more than one machine), but the correct version is types of machine. (A is one type of machine, B is another type of machine, A and B are types of machine - of machine modifies type, so it doesn't need to be plural.)
The correct shorter form would be machine types. This ...
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Your examples are all correct.
Many verbs and some adjectives (like "afraid") can be followed by a noun clause. That is, "that" + [subject + verb]. So the following are all correct.
I know that you will be sad.
I said that you will be sad.
I am afraid that you will be sad.
In all of these sentences, "that" can be omitted. The ...
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Either would be understood, at least in US usage. They can even be stated with "the math lesson" left off, "Do you get this?"/"Are you getting this?"
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We have a biologically innate tendency to look in the direction from which noise (or smell or touch) come from. You hear a noise on your left, you look to your left.
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The first sentence is the correct understanding. People don't usually set out to offend others and then apologize for it; the apology is for accidentally (unknowingly) offending.
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The first one would be more suggestive of someone who loves NYC, but doesn't necessarily want to live there.
The second one would suggest the person does want, or need, to live there.
In practical usage, this difference would be very small and almost interchangeable.
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Yes and no.
Both "although" and "though" can mean what "but" means, even if both also have other definitions that don't quite mean what "but" means. That said, while that particular meaning may essentially be the same in substance, "although" and "though" are different than "but" in ...
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last call: (in a bar) said to inform customers that closing time is approaching
and that any further drinks should be bought immediately.
source: Oxford English Dictionary
The woman is informing her companions that the hotel bar is closing in half an hour. Her question is asked as an invitation to join her for a drink. It doesn't specifically mean 'do you ...
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"the latter (something)" refers to the last mentioned of multiple things. For example,
There is a man with a red shirt, and a man with a blue shirt. The latter also wears a hat.
means that the man with the blue shirt wears a hat, because he's mentioned last.
The opposite would be "the former":
There is a man with a red shirt, and a man ...
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The adverb unexpectedly is generally used to indicate that any reasonable person could not have expected something to happen.
If you want to specify that you or she in particular didn't expect it, you have to explicitly say so:
I spoke to her: I wasn't expecting that.
I spoke to her: she wasn't expecting that.
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Neither sentence is idiomatic or natural English.
They are also not grammatical English, but that is a minor flaw that could be fixed. But even if the grammar errors were fixed, the sentences would be utterly odd and not idiomatic.
Do not try to "build upon" such sentences. They are not a good foundation for constructing clear sentences in English....
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You have correctly understood the sentence. It is natural to refer to movies (or plays, books etc) by their titles:
Crash was epic. Finding Dory made me cry. Star Wars: A New Hope changed my life.
In text, this can be suggested by writing the title in italics (or underlining). In speech, you depend on context. But in this film, the context is given by ...
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In denotation, their similar. The connotation, being subject to abuse, or subjected to abuse, emphasizes that these are human beings who are being hurt.
For example:
"A screwdriver used as a chisel is being abused."
"Undocumented workers are often subject to abuse."
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betraying the slightest suggestion of a smile.
That means simply that the captain was smiling very slightly, probably without intending to. It shows that he thinks Rostov is naive to believe that these are his quarters.
Merriam-Webster "betray"
4a : to reveal unintentionally
betray one's true feelings
A suggestion here is an indication or ...
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‘just’ here means ‘only’. Roads go past the village, but not to it. It's a colorful way of saying that, of the people who use the road, practically none stop at the village.
(Added) The meaning of past is ambiguous. Most commenters take it to mean that the road bypasses the village. I choose instead to read past as ‘beyond’: the road may happen to go ...
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They do not convey the same meaning.
Over time we have extended the collection to include orange, mint and apple flavor.
This means the collection did not initially include any of orange, mint or apple flavours, but now it does.
Over time we have extended the collection to orange, mint and apple flavor
This means "orange, mint and apple flavour"...
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"He didn't [do X] to be seen as a good man" is generally used in the sense and understood to mean "he did do X for a different reason than to be seen as a good man".
To say he wanted to be seen as a good man and therefore didn't do X, more common phrasings may be:
"Because/as/since he wanted to be seen as a good man, he didn't do X.&...
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I do think it is badly phrased, and my interpretation was the opposite of the other answers here. My feeling is not based on any grammatical rule of English, but on my sense of what makes a good question of maths and what makes sense for a company do to do.
Firstly, I wonder why the questioner wrote "to one of these cities"? Since you can't go to ...
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The company sends each of them to one of these cities at random.
I would say you should interpret it the first way, not the second way: it is possible for two or even three employees to end up in the same city. To interpret it otherwise is to fall victim to the gambler's fallacy. If the distribution is truly random, whether or not the second person goes to ...
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As it stands, the correct interpretation should be that two or more employees can end up in one city.
I agree that this math question could be worded better by the setter, to remove any ambiguity.
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Is this sentence intricate for a native speaker? Is it clear which items are located where? [closed]
nschneid’s answer is correct. It’s usually a good idea to break up a long sentence if there’s an obvious way to do it.
However, I think the meaning would be clearer if you moved “on the opposite side” before the list of items it modifies:
In the southwestern part of the building, a check-in desk and a bag-drop will be introduced, while on the opposite side,...
2
There is no difference in meaning.
Native speakers of many Indo-European languages have trouble with perfect tenses in English. In French, German, Latin, and Spanish for example, the proper tense for past time is most often the present perfect. This is not true in English. There, the proper tense for past time is most often the simple past. The present ...
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Yes, "out of nowhere" is commonly used in that meaning.
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Is this sentence intricate for a native speaker? Is it clear which items are located where? [closed]
This is, for my style, the ideal use case of a colon.
In the southwestern part of the building, multiple expansions will be introduced: a check-in desk, a bag-drop, another cafe, an ATM, and a car-hire (that is) on the opposite side.
EDIT 1:
I now see that this construction is not so easily colon-izable. I see a memetic approach and a serious approach. ...
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