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Linguistically speaking...
- Thread starter Matt O
- Start date
"Spectacular Grace, how sweet the sound".
"The band produced a concert amazing" (spectacular can be a noun)
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Gotta drop "tremendous" because it also means large. So there are quite a few contexts where it would not be interchangable.
Amazing Grace is not a good context. The author chose to use Amazing, but could have just as easily written the song "Spectacular Grace" based on meaning alone.
Same for the second example. That is a known phrase. But it's origins could have easily gone the other way.
I could be wrong but I think the teacher's assignment was based on definition alone rather than traditional phrases or accepted colloquialisms.
Well played. This is going to be fun!
True, titles (etc) were off limits.
His challenge was more about usage than definition. But, the two can be seen as a function of one another with context being the determining factor.
He was teaching the efficiency of language and the importance of context. Great prof.
Quick derail..... Without using a search, anyone know the antonym for buoyant? Had me stumped for a solid couple of hours.... Finally searched it and felt pretty dumb. Honor system here, but anyone?
Are we talking about meaning or homographs? I submit that poop (excrement) and poop(deck) are not synonyms.
I mean, if it's just words, then color and colour work, as do check and cheque, aluminum and aluminium, etc.
The bassist was steadfast in his punctuality for the load in time, however, the singer guitarist had a good laugh watching him struggle with his #%*$ing SVT, which at 100lbs, is nearly immovable.
