ABEYANCE
əˈbeɪəns

состояние неопределенности, временное бездействие, временное прекращение

•matter in abeyance — нерешённый вопрос
•go into abeyance — находиться в состоянии неопределённости; находиться в состоянии ожидания
•The bill is in abeyance.▫️Обсуждения этого законопроекта приостановлено.
•Our weekend plans were held in abeyance until we could get a weather forecast.▫️Наши планы на выходные были в состоянии неопределенности, пока мы не узнали прогноз погоды.

⭕️Unknown

QUESTION

How do I use the idiom “blessing in disguise”?

The idiom a blessing in disguise refers to something which is felt to be bad, unhelpful, unpleasant, etc - but something positive comes from it.
Here’s an example of how we might use it in conversation: “Oh Tom, I heard you lost your job. I’m so sorry.”, “Well, it was a blessing in disguise, as I’ve now found a much better job. I start on Monday”.
“It was a blessing in disguise that my car wouldn’t start and I missed the party - I hear that it was a complete disaster!”

#Ray_Lewis
⭕️Unknown English

ACRIMONIOUS
ˌækrɪˈməʊnɪəs

желчный, язвительный, саркастический

•acrimonious / bitter dispute — язвительная полемика
•acrimonious relationship — язвительный тон; колкий тон
•The meeting ended in an acrimonious dispute.▫️Совещание закончилось ожесточёнными спорами.
•The acrimonious debate on the agenda ended indecisively.▫️Ожесточённые дебаты по повестке дня завершились безрезультатно.
•He went through an acrimonious divorce.▫️Он пережил болезненный развод.

⭕️Unknown

HAUGHTY
ˈhɔːtɪ

надменный, высокомерный

•haughty and domineering character — высокомерный и властный характер
•be haughty — задирать нос
•look haughty — гордиться
•put on haughty airs — гордиться
•He rejected their offer with a tone of haughty disdain.▫️Он отверг их предложение высокомерно-презрительным тоном.
•The director of the opera company has a haughty demeanor that can be irritating.▫️Руководитель этой оперной труппы ведёт себя несколько высокомерно, что иногда раздражает.
•The lady's rich habiliments and haughty manner made the host's servants think she was someone important.▫️Богатые одеяния и высокомерие этой дамы заставили слуг хозяйки дома принять её за какую-то важную птицу.

⭕️Unknown

QUESTION

Why do we say, "in two weeks from now" instead of "two weeks from now"?

We say both, and both are correct, but they mean slightly different things.
When we add “in” to any period of time, we mean “within”. In other words, we are saying that something will happen anytime before but not later than the end point of the time period. Without “in” the phrase “two weeks from now” means “exactly two weeks from now”.
Usually, when we use “in” we do not need “from now”, since “in” already includes the idea of “starting from now”.
Here are examples of how both forms can be used:
I will be graduating in two weeks. (→ approximately two weeks from now, but not later than that)
I will be graduating two weeks from now. (→ exactly two weeks from now)
Her baby will be born in three months.
He baby will be born three months from now. (→ This form would not be used very often, since it is impossible to predict exactly when a baby will be born. We would say this only if we were talking about an induced birth. Otherwise, the sentence would be understood to mean “approximately three months from now”.)
For longer periods of time, there is often no significant difference between the two forms.
She will be getting married in six months.
She will be getting married six months from now.
In this case, six months is such a long period of time that we think of it as an approximate amount of time rather than an exact amount. If we wanted to say that it will be exactly six months, that is, six months down to the day itself, we would say:
She will be getting married exactly six months from now.

#Mike_Mendis
⭕️Unknown English

APROPOS
ˌæprəˈpəʊ

по поводу, кстати, относительно, уместный, своевременный

•remark was very apropos — это замечание было весьма своевременно
•The comment, though unexpected, was apropos.▫️Комментарий, хоть и неожиданный, был кстати.
•Apropos of nothing, he suddenly asked me if I liked cats!▫️Ни с того ни с сего, он вдруг спросил меня, нравятся ли мне кошки!
•She makes a number of telling observations apropos the current political situation.▫️Она делает ряд красноречивых замечаний по поводу нынешней политической ситуации.

⭕️Unknown

IRIDESCENT
ˌɪrɪˈdesnt

радужный, переливчатый, похожий на радугу

•iridescent varnish — лак для покрытий с радужным отливом
•iridescent colours — переливчатые цвета
•iridescent effect — перламутровый эффект
•A dragonfly hovered, vibrating and iridescent▫️Стрекоза порхала, трепещущая и радужная

⭕️Unknown

QUESTION

Is this sentence grammatically correct? "We can solve a problem if we ask our teacher it." "it" feels weird, so should I correct it as follows? "We can solve it if we ask our teacher a problem."

The reason that “it” feels weird is that is violates a very basic principle of English grammar. We shall talk about the sentence as a whole later, but first we need to understand why “ask our teacher it” is incorrect.

The structure we are dealing with here contains an indirect object, and the basic sentence structure is:
SUBJECT + VERB + INDIRECT OBJECT + DIRECT OBJECT
In your sentence, “we ask the teacher it”, the subject is “we”, the verb is “ask”, the indirect object is “the teacher”, and the direct object is “it”.
This sentence structure with the indirect object is possible only if the direct object is a noun. It cannot be used if the direct object is a pronoun. In other words, there cannot be an indirect object in the sentence if the direct object is a pronoun. Take a look at this sentence:
She gave me the book.
Here, “me” is the indirect object and “the book” is the direct object. This structure is correct because “the book” is a noun. However, if we replaced “the book” with a pronoun, we get this:
She gave me it. (X)
This is grammatically unacceptable. We have to change the indirect object into a prepositional phrase, like this:
She gave it to me. (✔)
Here are some other examples:
He bought his mother a necklace.
→ He bought his mother it. (X)
→ He bought it for his mother. (✔)
I lent him my bike.
→ I lent him it. (X)
→ I lent it to him. (✔)
So, in the sentence about asking the teacher, we have the same situation:
We asked the teacher a question.
→ We asked the teacher it. (X)
With the verb “to ask” we use the preposition “of” not “to” or “for”. So, when we use the pronoun instead of the noun, we say:
We asked it of the teacher.

Now for a look at the sentence as a whole:
"We can solve a problem if we ask our teacher it."
There are several logical problems with this sentence, and it is not something an native English speaker would say naturally.
First of all, what does “it” refer to? Technically, it refers to “problem”. However, in English it is not logically possible to ask someone “a problem”. We can ask someone “a question” or “a riddle” or even “a favour”—but never “a problem”.
Second, what exactly are you expecting the teacher to do? Are you expecting the teacher to solve the problem for you? In that case, you are not solving the problem—the teacher is.
Third, “a problem” means “any problem” generally. Is that really what you are talking about? Or are you talking about a specific problem? If you are talking about a specific problem, then you have to say “the problem”—not “a problem”.
Finally, in English, we would not express the idea using the “if … then” construction. The situation is not a conditional situation. However, in this case a native English speaker would say something like one of these sentences:
•Why don’t we ask the teacher for help in solving the problem?
•Let’s ask the teacher to help us solve the problem.
•We can solve the problem with the teacher’s help.

#Mike_Mendis
⭕️ Unknown English

VICISSITUDE
vɪˈsɪsɪtuːd

превратность, перемена, злоключения, чередование, смена

•vicissitude of light and shade — чередование света и тени
•vicissitude of the seasons — смена времён года
•vicissitudes of life — превратности судьбы
•The succession of light and darkness, the vicissitude of the seasons.▫️Смена дня и ночи, чередование времён года.

⭕️Unknown

LABYRINTHINE
ˌlæbəˈrɪnθaɪn

запутанный, подобный лабиринту

•a labyrinthine network of tortuous footpaths — запутанная сеть извилистых тропинок
•The streets of the Old City are narrow and labyrinthine.▫️Улицы в старом городе узкие и представляют собой самый настоящий лабиринт.
•The labyrinthine politics of Central Europe left us totally befuddled.▫️Запутанная, словно лабиринт, центральноевропейская политика совершенно сбила нас с толку.

⭕️Unknown

QUESTION

Do "a lot," and "alot" mean the same thing? A can they be used interchangeably?

A lot is like a few or a little—two words. It means plenty, a large amount.
Allot is a verb that means to give or distribute, like allotment.
Alot is not a real word. It’s just a common misspelling of a lot. You don’t write afew or alittle. Don’t write alot either.

▪️allot [əˊlɒt] v
распределя́ть (по жре́бию); раздава́ть, наделя́ть; предназнача́ть;
to allot a task возлага́ть зада́чу
▪️allotment [əˊlɒtmənt] n
1) небольшо́й уча́сток, отведённый под огоро́д; наде́л
2) до́ля, часть
3) распределе́ние

#Lynn_E
⭕️Unknown English

CYNOSURE
ˈsɪnəʃʊr

центр внимания, Полярная звезда, путеводная звезда

•be the cynosure of all eyes — привлекать к себе всеобщее внимание
•Let faith be your cynosure to walk by.▫️Да будет вера твоей путеводной звездой.
•That company is the cynosure for anyone wishing to make it in the music business.▫️Эта компания является путеводной звездой для всех желающих добиться успеха в музыкальном бизнесе.

⭕️Unknown

OBLIVION
əˈblɪvɪən

забвение, забывчивость, амнистия, помилование

•a writer consigned to oblivion — писатель, преданный забвению
•She drank herself into oblivion.▫️Она напилась до беспамятства.
•He sought oblivion in a bottle of whisky.▫️Он хотел забыться и искал забвения в бутылке виски.
•It seems that the so-called new theory is likely to sink into oblivion.▫️Похоже, что так называемая новая теория будет предана забвению.
•The names of the people who lived here long ago have faded into oblivion.▫️Имена живших здесь людей уже давно канули в лету.
•After being awake for three days straight, he longed for the oblivion of sleep.▫️После бодрствования в течение трех дней подряд он жаждал забыться сном.

⭕️Unknown

QUESTION

Could you explain the difference between these three sentences, "It's time we had dinner"," It's time we had had dinner" and " It's time we were having dinner"?

We should start by saying that the second sentence, “It’s time we had had dinner” is logically and grammatically incorrect and would not be used in English. The third sentence “It’s time we were having dinner” by itself is logically awkward and would also not be used in real.
The only sentence of the three that is both logically and grammatically correct is the first one:
It’s time we had dinner.
This means that we should have started dinner already, but let us start now. The verb “had” in the noun clause “we had dinner” is in the “strong” subjunctive mood. We use the subjunctive mood because we are imagining the action of having dinner. That action has not happened yet in reality, but it should have happened. This idea of “should have” is expressed using the “strong” subjunctive mood—in this case “had”.
This structure, using a noun clause in the subjunctive mood is differentiated from:
It’s time to have dinner.
This form of the sentence, using an infinitive phrase instead of a noun clause in the subjunctive mood, is simply a way of stating that now is the time for us to have dinner.
As you can see, there is an important difference in meaning between the two structures. The use of the noun clause in the subjunctive mood (“we had dinner”) conveys the meaning that the action is overdue. That is, it should have happened earlier, but now is better than even further delay.
The basic structure is:
It’s time [that] X did Y.
It’s high time [that] X did Y. (→ That addition of “high” serves to intensify the idea of the action being delayed and overdue.)

▪️overdue [ˏəυvəˊdju:] a
запозда́лый

#Mike_Mendis
⭕️Unknown English

REDOLENT
ˈredələnt

благоухающий, напоминающий, ароматный, пахучий, издающий сильный запах

•redolent fragrance — приятный запах
•The pine woods were more redolent.▫️Сосновые леса благоухали сильнее.
•The bar was redolent with the smell of stale cigarette smoke.▫️В баре стоял сильный запах несвежего сигаретного дыма.
•My grandmother's house always seemed to be redolent with the aroma of baking bread.▫️Казалось, что в бабушкином доме всегда стоит аромат свежевыпеченного хлеба.

⭕️Unknown

TRANSCENDENT
trænˈsendənt

трансцендентальный, превосходящий, превосходный, необыкновенный

•transcendent merit — выдающиеся заслуги
•transcendent capacity — сверхъестественная способность
•The star player's transcendent performance helped the team to a surprise victory.▫️Превосходное выступление звезды этой команды помогло ей одержать неожиданную победу.

⭕️Unknown

QUESTION

How should I say, "I've never spoke of him with a truer word", or "I've never spoke of him by a truer word"?

When using the present perfect tense, the past participle (“spoken”) is properly used with the helper verb “has” or “have.” In the example sentence, the past tense of the verb (“spoke”), is being used incorrectly. In addition, the use of the preposition “by” in the second sentence is incorrect. The corrected sentences should be, “I’ve never spoken of him with [a truer word][truer words].”

▪️a truer word was never spoken
Общая лексика: лучше не скажешь, совершенно верно!

#Frank_Dauenhauer
⭕️Unknown English

QUESTION

Is this sentence correct, "I am not coming to work today, due to not being well at the moment."?

It’s correct in the sense that it follows the rules of English, contains no obvious spelling or syntax errors, and can be understood.
A native English speaker wouldn’t likely say it. It’s clumsy and way too long.
“At the moment” is redundant. Why say it? You wouldn’t say “I am not coming to work today due to not being well in September of 1996.” Of course you’re not well right now, that’s why you aren’t coming in right now!
“I am not coming to work today because I am unwell” or “because I don’t feel well” or “because I am sick” are all more natural, and something more in line with what a native speaker would say.

▪️redundant [rɪˊdʌndənt] a
изли́шний, чрезме́рный;
ли́шний
▪️clumsy [ˊklʌmzɪ] a
1) неуклю́жий, нело́вкий; неповоро́тливый
2) гру́бый, топо́рный

#Franklin_Veaux
⭕️Unknown English