Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

1. You are a woman; you must never speak what you think. Your words must contradict your thought, but your actions may contradict your words.

Can you paraphrase this sentence?

2. As a leader, King was proud when he thought that black people would be given the ______ to choose their own seats on buses, in schools and in jobs. His fighting for black people's ______ and liberation eventually led to his death in April 1964.
The answers given are liberty and freedom.
What is the difference between these two words?
Can you replace each other in the two situations?

Thanks

[Christine123]

Hi there. I've noticed this question has not been answered yet, and to be honest, I think it is because it is slightly difficult.

I think what the sentence is trying to convey is that women must be careful of saying what they truly think because if what they think is out of line with what is expected of a woman, and they express it in what they say, there will be problems. Yet at the sametime what a woman does, or her actions, can be in line with what she thinks, just as long as she doesn't express it in words.

I don't follow the writer/speaker's reasoning, though.

As for your second example, freedom and liberty are synonyms. They can pretty much be used interchangeably. The only reason why I would use "liberty" in the first blank and "freedom" in the second blank is that saying "liberty and liberation" sounds redundant.

[jasonlulu_2000]

thanks for such a tricky or strange sentence