Page 216 of 231

Re: The English Language

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2020 2:24 pm
by soheil_hooshdaran
David Sedgwick wrote:
Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:43 pm
soheil_hooshdaran wrote:
Sat Nov 28, 2020 12:24 pm
What does it mean if banks pull back on lending?
It means that they restrict lending. This happened after the 2008 financial crisis, when banks were required to strengthen their balance sheet by regulators across the world. Are you referring to Obama's memoirs of that period?
Yes

Re: The English Language

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 2020 10:26 pm
by IM Jack Rudd
"The sheer amount of X..." is probably best translated as "The amount of X was so large that it...", but I'd need to see the full sentence to be sure.

Re: The English Language

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 8:14 am
by soheil_hooshdaran
, and because of the seer amount of money involved, the result could be an economic crisis the likes of which we hadn't seen in our lifetimes.

Re: The English Language

Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:13 pm
by Reg Clucas
soheil_hooshdaran wrote:
Sun Nov 29, 2020 8:14 am
, and because of the seer amount of money involved, the result could be an economic crisis the likes of which we hadn't seen in our lifetimes.
In this context it means "..only because of the amount of money...", i.e. not because of any other reason. It is not necessarily a reference to size when used like this.

Re: The English Language

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 7:56 pm
by soheil_hooshdaran
Thanks.
What's the difference between
This may have put me ahead of the curve compared to other presidential candidates
and
This may have put ahead of other presidential candidates
?

Re: The English Language

Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 12:32 am
by IM Jack Rudd
They're different concepts. Ahead on its own here would refer to leads in the election itself, or in the polling of the upcoming election. Ahead of the curve refers to having better knowledge of how things were likely to pan out.

Re: The English Language

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 8:29 am
by soheil_hooshdaran
Thanks.
What's a quick smile?

Re: The English Language

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2020 4:44 pm
by John McKenna
Here's an example in the context of breaking the ice in the cold war when smiles between adversaries were few, far between and fleeting -

"Chou gave me a quick smile and took it. It was the first step in putting
the legacy of the past behind us. Unlike Mao, Chou had lived abroad..." (Henry Kissinger)

Re: The English Language

Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:34 am
by soheil_hooshdaran
What is a "crisp" uniform?

Re: The English Language

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:49 am
by soheil_hooshdaran
What does "so often" mean?
", which so often felt like an elaborate game,"

Re: The English Language

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:43 pm
by Matt Mackenzie
"so often" = "frequently" or "regularly".

Re: The English Language

Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2020 4:50 pm
by Reg Clucas
Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:43 pm
"so often" = "frequently" or "regularly".
In fact it really just means 'often'. The 'so' is not necessary.

Re: The English Language

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 2:01 am
by soheil_hooshdaran
Thanks

Re: The English Language

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 4:39 pm
by soheil_hooshdaran
What is the horse-race aspect of something?

Re: The English Language

Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:50 pm
by IM Jack Rudd
In the context of politics, it means the coverage of politics in terms of election results and polling, as opposed to coverage of issues and policy positions.