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lower of two floors that are each at a different ground level due to sloping terrain (UK: lower ground floor) guard the official in charge of a railway train (US & now UK also: conductor) to watch over for security one who guards a protective device. one of two positions in basketball, usually players who are the best ball-handlers and shooters ...
The adverb well may be used in colloquial BrE only with the meaning "very" to modify adjectives. For example, "The film was well good." [37] In both British and American English, a person can make a decision; however, only in British English is the common variant take a decision also an option in a formal, serious, or official context. [38]
The two words share a common root, but they are not considered interchangeable in Standard English. Because they are homophones, misuse is usually only apparent when observed in writing. Standard: The Netherlands is well known for its elaborate system of levees. Standard: This statute allows the state to levy a 3% tax.
A special case of semantic syllepsis occurs when a word or phrase is used both in its figurative and literal sense at the same time. [3] Then, it is not necessary for the governing phrase to relate to two parts of the sentence. One example is in an advertisement for a transport company: "We go a long way for you."
Cryptic crossword clues consist typically of a definition and some type of word play. Cryptic crossword clues need to be viewed two ways. One is a surface reading and one a hidden meaning. [28] The surface reading is the basic reading of the clue to look for key words and how those words are constructed in the clue. The second way is the hidden ...
In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau [a] —is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] English examples include smog , coined by blending smoke and fog , [ 3 ] [ 5 ] as well as motel , from motor ( motorist ) and hotel .
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Examples include cattle, thanks, clothes (originally a plural of cloth). A particular set of nouns, describing things having two parts, comprises the major group of pluralia tantum in modern English: glasses (a pair of spectacles), pants, panties, pantyhose, pliers, scissors, shorts, suspenders, tongs (metalworking & cooking), trousers, etc.