Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

1. Breaking *a* silence of more than 30 years, 91=year-old Mark Felt has stepped forward as teh secret source.....
Why"a" not "the"?

2.It took us *one and a half *hour to make the tape.
or
It took us *one hour and a half*hour to make the tape.

3I see guys being slightly girly as a good thing, meaning they are willing to *lower* themselves instead of being macho all the time

What are other words that can replace *lower*?

Thanks

[CP]

1. Not sure why, but "a 30-year silence" or "a silence of 30 years" is how a native speaker would phrase it.

2. You can say "one and a half hours" [note the plural] or "an hour and a half" to express the 90-minute period. You wouldn't say "one hour and a half," though. If it was 60 minutes, you would say either "an hour" or "one hour."

3. "Abase" is a good substitute for "lower." Maybe even "demean," depending upon how bad it is to be girly, according to the author.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[missdaredevil]

"I spent an hour on the project "is better than "I spent one hour on the project"?

Thanks

[CP]

In conversation, you would probably hear "an" more often than "one," but neither one would sound wrong. Perhaps you would be more likely to say "one" rather than "an" if other people were saying how long they spent, and one said "two hours" and another said "a half hour," etc.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[bud]

[CP]

Good point, Bud. I'm sure you're right.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Bob S.]

One variant is: broke his silence of 30 years

[LucentShade]

For #3, "degrade" would be another good choice.