Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[kerstin]

1.How is *ill-mannered* different from *unmannered*?

2.
Is there a positive adjective to that describes someone who is *rough around the edges*, meaning someone who cares about a person's integrity instead of details of proper manner?

3. .....someone was *on offense*=trying to offend someone else?

4. *And so,* I don't know the man well, but I've benn disappointed about how he....
Does that mean anything?

Thank you all~

[bud]

1. They're both synonyms for "rude."

2. Hmm... "down-to-earth" comes close. That would describe someone who cares about warmth, honesty, sincerity - traits like that - more than style and other superficial characteristics. It does not necessarily mean rough-around-the-edges, though.

3. The only thing it means to me is an athlete who (perhaps with teammates) is trying to score. "On defense" means that he/she is trying to prevent the opponent from scoring... We also say that someone/something is "on the offensive." It menas that they are being very aggressive, such as a company trying to score a big advantage over its competitors, or an executive trying to win a promotion over three of her peers/competitors.

4. "And so" is introducing a conclusion from what was said previously. Something was mentioned that was disappointing to the speaker of the quote. It's the same as, "Because of that, even thgough I don't know the man well,.."

[CP]

2. Sometimes a person who is good at heart but not particularly polished is called "a diamond in the rough," i.e., a precious stone that just hasn't been cut and polished yet.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[missdaredevil]

[bud]

Thanks, MsD. Same to you!

"That" refers to whatever the speaker said before saying the sentence in this thread. The speaker is disappointed about something.

Ex. Whenever my new boss assigns a new task, he is very unclear about what he wants done, and he gets surly if I question him about it. And so, I don't know the man well, but I've been disappointed about how he...

or...

Whenever my new boss assigns a new task, he is very unclear about what he wants done, and he gets surly if I question him about it. Because of that, even though I don't know the man well, I have been disappointed about how he... (you wouldn't use "but" in this version)

[kerstin]

[bud]

Kerstin, do you mean that you want to replace And so with So that? No, that desn't work in this example. In my opinion, so that is used to indicate a consequence, not a conclusion.

Ex.: She took the train instead of her car so that she could take a nap.


Note: What I mean by conclusion is a thought/idea that was formed based on the facts that were mentioned prior to the sample sentence. What I mean by consequence is something that was made possible by what was spoken prior to so that.

[missdaredevil]

.....The Pople decides to open to scrutiny by scholars and professional historians a new treasure house of documents. The latest *to be made* available dates from teh reign of Pope Pius......


I'm not sure if I understand the grammatical aspect of that phrase.

[bud]

"Available" is part of the phrase: "to be made available"

The sentence could also have been written as: "The latest document to be made available..." "The function of "the latest" in the original sentence is, in a way, similar to a pronoun (although it adds information, which a pronoun does not).