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Tough love
2023-12-07Reader question:In this newspaper headline – The Trouble with Tough Love – what's tough love?My comments:Tough love is the harsh measu...
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Go figure
2023-12-07Chinese learners of English have a greater difficulty when it comes to picking up a new word or expression. Well, I guess that's speaking the obvi...
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Off the charts
2023-12-07Reader question:In this sentence from an AP story on the NBA (James' Triple-Double Leads Cavs Over Raptors, November 24, 2007) – "If he...
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Got to make allowances
2023-12-07Reader question:In this sentence – You've got to make allowances for their British accents – what does "make allowances" mea...
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Words and rhetoric
2023-12-07Reader question:In this paragraph from a story on climate change ('Crunch time' for climate change, BBC.co.uk, December 12, 2007) – If t...
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When things don't add up
2023-12-07Reader question: What does it mean when people say things "don't add up"?My comments:Two and two don't add up to five. Two and two a...
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To look or not to look is the question
2023-12-07What is the biggest cultural barrier for a Chinese to overcome when dealing with people from other countries?For me personally, it is none other than ...
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Put on the spot?
2023-12-07Reader question: What does this – Don't put me on the spot like that – mean?My comments:It means don't embarrass me like that.If w...
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Small Talk
2023-12-07Reader question: What's "small talk" exactly?My comments:Small talk is gossip, chitchat, unimportant chatter, small being the significan...
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Come through?
2023-12-07Reader question: In this sentence – We need our main guys to come through – what does "come through" mean exactly? It doesn'...