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Iwana
Joined: 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 31
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 Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 9:36 pm Post subject: in supply or on supply ? |
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Dear teachers,
If water is available, can I say "Water is in supply" or
"Water is on supply" or is there any other suitable expression ?
I need your help.
Thank you very much.
Iwana |
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ebb
Joined: 12 Jan 2006
Posts: 87
Location: USA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:46 am Post subject: |
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"on supply" is not an idiom. You may be thinking of "on order."
We don't have any Thomas Hardy novels in stock now, but Jude the Obscure is on order. [or on back order]
"in supply" is usually in the form "in adequate supply" or "in sufficient supply" or the like.
It is an adverbial phrase, i think, so you still need an adjective to which it will attach: "Water is available in sufficient supply."
Colloquial: "There's plenty of water available here."
More elegant: "Water is abundant in the northern region."
_________________
"This is insolence up with which I will not put." Winston Churchill, upon reading a newspaper�s criticism of his having ended a sentence with a preposition.
"You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than with just a kind word." Al Capone. |
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