m_prime
Joined: 28 Dec 2008
Posts: 52
Location: Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
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 Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| The name rings a bell, but I can’t place the face |
1. 'Place the face' means that you can not recall what someone looks like. In your example the speaker can remember the name of the person but not what they look like. If the opposite was true the speaker might say "I can place the face but can't remember the name".
2. You could simply say, "I can remember the name but can't recall what they look like".
3. The expressions 'place the face' and 'rings a bell' are both quite common amongst native speakers, at least in Britain. They would only be used in informal contexts. |
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