Questions tagged [meaning-in-context]
This tag is for questions about the meaning of a longer passage of English. A SPECIFIC CONCERN must be emphasized.
3,983
questions
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What does “That she belov'd knows nought that knows not this:” mean and why does it begin with “That”?
In Act I, scene 2 of Troilus and Cressida, Cressida uses a double negation.
Women are angels, wooing:
Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing.
That she belov'd knows nought ...
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0answers
26 views
What is “keep handy” in this context?
Joseph Conrad, "The Nigger Of The "Narcissus": A Tale Of The Forecastle":
The men, knitted together aft into a ready group by the first sharp order of an officer coming to take charge of the deck ...
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0answers
27 views
Can “the light” see the seas of summer leaves?
There is this song called Run in the Rain (by Tom Grennan).
And part of the lyrics (Verse 2) goes like this:
When the light can see
The seas of summer leaves
The melodies resolve and the ...
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0answers
17 views
The difference between two words
I need to know the difference between "to hear" and "to listen". Could you explain it to me, please? I'm not a native English speaker.
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0answers
20 views
Meaning of a passage in “Night on Highway 128” by Cary Mullis
From Night on Highway 128 by Cary Mullis:
I was driving up a long and winding road between Cloverdale and Booneville in Mendocino County, heading for my weekend cabin. My girlfriend was asleep and ...
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2answers
22 views
“I mind to” vs “I am minded to”
If I wanted to say "I am inclined to seek cheaper results inside the supermarket", then which of the following ways would make the most sense?
I mind to seek cheaper results inside the ...
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1answer
30 views
What is the meaning of 'She's LETTING" things get on top of her at work'?
She's letting things get on top of her at work.
The above sentence makes me confuse when I study the phrase 'get on top of sb'. First af all, I totally understand "things get on top of her at work" ...
1
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1answer
23 views
Meaning in context
Provine writes: “I forge recklessly into the paleohumorology fray, proposing my candidate for the most ancient joke—the feigned tickle. (Real tickling is disqualified because of its reflexive nature.) ...
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2answers
36 views
Meaning of the word “gets” in this context
This month’s article comes from Cabinet Magazine and is rather peculiar — it elevates the discussion of something my 2-year old “gets” to the rarefied realm of academic prose.The article is about ...
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0answers
3 views
What's the meaning of the bold sentence? [migrated]
Quoted from "The Federalist Papers" NO.1 General Introduction
The plan offered to our deliberations affects too many particular interests, innovates upon too many local institutions, not to involve ...
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0answers
34 views
Figure of speech: when you say something but mean the opposite
when a mother tells her kids "you can destroy the house before I return" or "when you get to your friend's house, act like you were raised by animals".
What figure of speech can this be described with?...
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2answers
452 views
What does “Passed out of record” mean?
What does the verb pass out mean in this poem of Emily Dickinson? The second stanza of the poem is following,
Read then of faith
That shone above the fagot;
Clear strains of hymn
The river could ...
0
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1answer
26 views
Does “might be several decades” have same meaning with “might take several decades”?
In the sentence, "Therefore, success in fariming on Mars might be several decades," does "might be several decades" have same meaning with "might take several decades"?
1
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1answer
37 views
Meaning of gram-vendor in context
Reading Shame (1983) by Salman Rushdie, and here's such a sentence.
For five, six, seven days films played to an empty house in which peeling plaster and slowly rotating ceiling fans and the ...
1
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1answer
23 views
What does “To borrow a phrase” mean? [duplicate]
To borrow a phrase, every editor who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that propagating the myth of "objective journalism" is indefensible. A newspaper or radio ...
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1answer
18 views
What is the meaning of “literally spruced up” in this sentence? [closed]
I read this in Word by Word by Kory Stamper:
Nowhere else is our institutional introversion borne out than at the Merriam- Webster holiday parties. The parties are usually held in the afternoon, in ...
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0answers
21 views
whats the meaning of “superficial jackass”? [closed]
When we were walking here right before the twins
came, I thought for one second that you were looking at me like I was an actual female, and I was, like,
hey, ...
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0answers
19 views
I want to know the meaning of the sentence below [closed]
Declan sell your goods to Frank, so you will not be broke like me.
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1answer
28 views
How should I interpret “it did not seem fantastic”?
I read a sentence in a story in my book which was:
The little girl, (not so little anymore; the bumps her feet made under the covers, were half way down the bed, their big double bed that they let ...
11
votes
4answers
574 views
What does “spinning upon the shoals” mean?
What does the verb spin mean in this poem of Emily Dickinson? The stanza with the line in question is:
Ring—for the Scant Salvation—
Toll—for the bonnie Souls—
Neighbor—and friend—and ...
0
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1answer
69 views
What does 's stand for in “America's got talent”? [closed]
What does 's stand for in "America's got talent"?
Does it stand for HAS? --> "America has got talent." Is this 's necessary? Is it incorrect to say "America got talent"? For example, ABC is a school ...
2
votes
2answers
66 views
Where does the saying get a rope originate? [closed]
Is it truly a racial comment to lynching or is it a reference to wild west judgement with no jury?
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1answer
36 views
What did Jane Austen mean by “employ for captivation”?
I read the phrase employ for captivation in Jane Austen’s 1813 Regency novel, Pride and Prejudice:
“Undoubtedly,” replied Darcy, to whom this remark was chiefly addressed, “there is a meanness in ...
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2answers
40 views
How do these two parts of a sentence relate? [closed]
I read this in Word by Word by Kory Stamper;
It will become clear to you, in the space between heart beats, why you are having a hard time with this entry: it is because you realise now that you do ...
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0answers
45 views
not seeing why a Sikh should put on airs with me [on hold]
I asked Narayan Singh what he would do in the circumstances.
“That will be a simple matter, sahib,” he answered. So I damned him suitably, not seeing why a Sikh should put on airs with me.
“Any ...
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0answers
74 views
So I damned him suitably, not seeing why a Sikh should put on airs with me
I asked Tom what he would do in the circumstances.
“That will be a simple matter,” he answered. So I damned him suitably, not seeing why a Sikh should put on airs with me.
“Any ignorant fool can say a ...
0
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1answer
42 views
Should not there be “anything” instead of “nothing” in this sentence? [closed]
I read this in "Word by Word" by Kory Samper:
You toil onward with steady plodding, losing yourself to everything but the goal of capturing and documenting this language. Up is down, bad is good ...
0
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1answer
55 views
The meaning of the following Sentence — “Learning disabilities are immutable irrespective of time and nature of interventions”?
Can anyone please explain to me the meaning of the following sentence?
Learning disabilities are immutable irrespective of time and nature of interventions.
I am also not sure whether the ...
0
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0answers
19 views
Difference between “Increase in the productivity of …” or “Increase in productivity”
Please help me understand the difference between the two expressions:
"Increase in logistics department productivity."
"Increase in the productivity of the logistics department."
As I understand, ...
2
votes
2answers
44 views
How can “nerve” (n) both mean “courage” but also “nervousness”?
I was looking at the definition of "nerve" from the google dictionary (simply search "define nerve" on google in order to see it), and I got two definitions of it that are quite the opposite of each ...
0
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0answers
41 views
What is the meaning of the following sentence? Is the grammar correct? What might be the tone of the speaker?
I was reading something and just struck upon this sentence: "Should they be taught a lesson in their own ways immediately!"
I am unable to figure out what exactly the speaker intends to convey. Is it ...
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0answers
34 views
The meaning of “the luxury end of the market”?
Can you explain to me what the phrase "the luxury end of the market" in this sentence means?
This week I'm going to discuss the luxury end of the market.
9
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1answer
2k views
What is a “tittering order”?
Can you help me about the exact meaning of the words in bold?
In an emotional meeting with some hundred remaining deputies on February 3, deputies reaffirmed their loyalty to the tittering order.
...
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0answers
13 views
trip over one'e shoelaces
What does "trip over one's shoelaces" mean? I found it in a text in which the writer was speaking about his congused condition. All the passage is as follow:
"Huyser was at a loss as he was not able ...
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votes
2answers
50 views
Is what has been deduced from this piece of information correct?
The following piece of information is a part of "constituent assembly debates" of Indian Constituent Assembly given in my book:
But the point is to see when and how are you going to apply that ...
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votes
1answer
27 views
An establishment intellectual by affiliation
What is the exact meaning of the words in bold?
An establishment intellectual by affiliation—he had served the Regime in
ministerial and cultural positions.
It is about an intellectual who was among ...
-1
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1answer
22 views
begged to decline
Can anyone help me about the exact meaning of the words in bold?
Jack's embassy contact, John, begged to decline.
I shouls add that jack proposed an idea that John could not accept it.
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1answer
28 views
What does the adjective “complicated” mean in this context?
I read a sentence in my book which was:
Their work led to a realisation that issues of injustice to women and of gender inequalities were complicated in nature.
The adjective "complicated" means "...
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2answers
34 views
Is there any other pharse i can use in the following context instead of pass through? [on hold]
There's so many happy and bittersweet phases of us we have been passed through together.
I can't use have been/gone through as they refer to endure hardship.
0
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1answer
40 views
Meaning of “locker room raving”
Can you help me about the words in bold in the following passage?
The parting was emotionally charged. The Shah lost his composure, tears briefly welling in his eyes, when an officer of the ...
4
votes
2answers
82 views
Why do people tend to use negation of negative statement
Why do people tend to use negation of negative statement?
Let us see an example statement,
he is not unhealthy, ...
The above statement can have beginning like
he is healthy, ...
Why exactly ...
1
vote
3answers
29 views
offset the drift
What is the exact meaning of "to offset the drift" in the following passage?
The King made a public appearance accompanied by the Queen and the royal children and mingled with reporters. The idea ...
0
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1answer
24 views
Can i use 'get+ past participle ' with gerund like the following context? Or it requires a preposition before gerund?
I Won't get lost searching myself.
Or
I Won't get lost in searching myself.
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0answers
21 views
taken the liberty of
The following sentence is somehow ambiguous for me:
"Ambassador had already obtained from the Secretery an endorsement of the invitation he had taken the liberty of making to the King a few days ...
0
votes
1answer
14 views
just the opposite which
Can anyone help me about the following passage?
We’re walking a tightrope in that country, giving the king every assurance but encouraging him to be decisive. He has been just the opposite which has ...
0
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1answer
19 views
to rise to the importance of the moment
Help me please about the exact meaning of the phrase in bold, please!
Treasury Secretary, who met the king during his tour of the region in mid-November, described him to John as a broken man ...
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0answers
24 views
Can't ask for or couldn’t ask for what to use in this following context? Is this phrase Couldn't ask for has any particular grammar rule? [duplicate]
I could not/ can not ask for more when i've been with my best buddy for such a long time.
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1answer
46 views
selling job on the patriarch [closed]
Can anyone help me about exact meaning of the following sentence?
The group also recognized that their proposal required a more difficult selling job on the patriarch.
Of course. I should add the ...
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0answers
16 views
Were the sanctions helpful or not in this context?
I'm not sure whether I understand this passage correctly. The author appears to generally suggest that the sanctions against Iraq were not successful. In the midst of the passage though he signals ...
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2answers
41 views
Nuances in meanings: paradox , conundrum, dilemma , plight [closed]
What are the subtle differences in meanings between the following words?
Paradox
Conundrum
Dilemma
Plight
