BBC Learning English Adjectives and adverbs

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the events that have become newsworthy but also often offers some analysis and/or
personal opinion. This job is usually reserved for senior journalists at a particular
newspaper or magazine. Well Suharno, I do hope this has been a useful answer to
your question!
Explanation of a joke
Lisa from Taiwan asks:
Why is it funny? What does the last sentence mean?
'Taking his seat in his chambers, the judge faced the opposing lawyers. "So," he
said, "I have been presented, by both of you, with a bribe."
Both lawyers squirmed uncomfortably. "You, attorney Leon, gave me $15,000. And
you, attorney Campos, gave me $10,000." The judge reached into his pocket and
pulled out a check. He handed it to Leon.
"Now then, I'm returning $5,000, and we're going to decide this case solely on its
merits."'
To decide a case 'solely on it merits' means that only the intrinsic rights and wrongs
of the arguments will be considered. In a court of law one would expect all cases to
be decided solely on their merits.
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It is funny because that is no longer possible in this case as the judge has already
pocketed bribes of $10,000 from both the defense and prosecution counsels. He
argues that his judgement will be unbiased now that the amount of bribe from
defense and prosecution is equal, but would you expect to get a fair trial in a court of
law from a judge who was open to bribery?
kinds / types / sorts / varieties (of music)
I have always had problems using the words kind and type. Is there any difference
and can you give me some examples of usage?
kinds of / sorts of / types of / varieties of
Kinds, sorts, types and even varieties can all be used interchangeably, (although
varieties may be used more in more scientific sorts of contexts, e.g. varieties of
tomato) The first three are very common and can be used in singular and plural
forms. Compare the following and note that all the examples today are taken from a
global music theme:
What kind(s) / type(s) / sort(s) / varieties of music do you like most? ~ I like all
kinds / sorts / types: hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock, rap and classical.
Global Music or World Music as it is known in Britain is the synthesis of different
kinds of music from around the world, often using traditional instruments in an
original way.
If you want to know what type of instrument a morinhoor is, how to find music
from Yakutia or how to buy an organo pinareno from Cuba, Global Music websites
can help you
various / different / many / all - kinds / types / sorts varieties
These nouns collocate readily with different, various and many as well as with all:
There are various kinds / types / sorts / varieties of jazz, originating with
ragtime, blues and swing of the 20s and 30s and then the later varieties of hard bop,
soft bop, funky, third stream and free styles of the 50s and 60s.
sort of (a) / kind of (a) / type of (a)
Sort of / kind of / type of are usually followed by an uncountable noun or a
singular countable noun with no article, but a / an is sometimes retained in an
informal style:
What sort of (a) / kind of (a) / type of (a) dance is that?
Well, it s a sort of jig or reel, danced to very fast time. I don t know exactly what it
is because there are several types of jigs single jigs, double jigs, slip jigs and hop
jigs.
Note that when the indefinite article is retained, it sometimes has a derogatory
meaning:
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What kind of a DVD player is that? You don t seriously expect me to listen to
electronic music with no surround sound, do you?
sort of / kind of
Sort of and kind of, but not type of, are used in another important way in informal
spoken English when we want to demonstrate to the listener that we are not
speaking very precisely but simply indicating a general idea. They are used to modify
many different parts of speech including adjectives, verbs and clauses, see below:
Why don t you like this kind of music? ~ Well, it s sort of loud and tuneless.
They may also be used as fillers, i.e. to fill a gap in the conversation and to give the
speaker more time to think:
How would you describe your singing voice on this track?
Well, I& I kinda howl like a wolf, and then ...kinda...kinda...squeal like a pig, but
it seems to work, sort of.
Uses of the word 'lack'
Would you please tell me all the uses of the word lack (in different forms) and make
a sentence for each of its uses? Is the sentence 'Many children are in lack of sleep'
correct? If it is wrong, what should it be?
I'm not too happy with 'in lack of', Wong, which doesn't sound quite right to me.
Lack of is fine where lack is used as a noun, so you can say, for example:
" 'The lack of amenities in the hotel surprised all of us.'
" 'There was a general lack of enthusiasm among the trainees.'
Lack may also be used as a verb:
" 'They lacked the courage necessary to cross the fast-flowing river.'
" 'When she came to start making the cake, she discovered that she lacked
half the basic ingredients.'
Large / Big
What is the difference in use and meaning between the words 'large' and 'big'?
Rachel Wicaksono answers:
Well, this is a big question Iryna, so I'll do my best to answer it clearly and briefly!
First I'll talk about form:
'Large' and 'big' are both regular adjectives...
Their comparative forms are 'larger' and 'bigger',
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Their superlative forms are 'largest' and 'biggest'.
'Big' is a very common word in both written and spoken English; in fact, it's in the
top 1,000 most frequently used words.
'Large', on the other hand, is a less frequently used word and doesn't even make it
into the top 3,000 most frequently used words in English.
Now, onto the question of meaning...
The general meaning of both 'large' and 'big' is:
'of more than average size/amount/weight/height' etc.
For example:
'Iryna has got a well-paid job and can afford to live in a house' - OR...
'Iryna lives in a large house'.
In these examples, both 'big' and 'large' mean that Iryna's house is of more than
average size. Although 'big' and 'large' both mean the same in these examples,
'large' sounds a little more formal.
Neither 'large' nor 'big' can be used with uncountable nouns.
This means, we can say:
'The house has a (big or large) garden' - because 'garden' is countable.
However, we can't use 'big' or 'larg' with 'traffic', because 'traffic' is uncountable.
With uncountable nouns, you can use 'a lot of' - for example:
'There's a lot of traffic on the road next to the house.'
So, although 'large' and 'big' are often interchangeable, sometimes they are not. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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