Archive for April, 2014

grammatical expression: border on

{ April 25, 2014 @ 6:38 pm } · { grammatical expression }
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Today, I’d like to write about the short expression “border on”. We use it when we want to say that something is almost as bad as something else. Let me give you some ways to use it in sentences.

I think borrowing something without permission borders on stealing.

You exaggerated how long it would take you to finish the project. That borders on lying!

That hotel named itself after a very famous and luxurious hotel, so they could trick people into staying there. As far as I’m concerned, that borders on fraud.

In my opinion, yelling at a child doesn’t border on child abuse; it is child abuse!

We can use this expression in all types of sentences, but it’s most commonly used in grammatically positive sentences. Sometimes, it’s used in grammatically negative sentences, as in my last example.

As you can see from my examples, after the preposition “on”, we always put a noun or a verb in the –ing form. This word is almost always negative in feeling. Also, please note that the situations described are usually very serious in nature. From my examples, “stealing”, “lying”, “fraud”, and “child abuse” are all serious and negative actions.

We always use this expression to emphasize that something is bad by comparing it to something worse. When we say something bad “borders on” a worse thing, we’re saying that it comes very close to being the same thing although there is a slight difference that makes it not quite as bad. For example, in my first example sentence, the meaning is: borrowing something without permission is bad, and it comes close to stealing, but it’s not quite as bad as stealing.

idiom: to turn over a new leaf

{ April 7, 2014 @ 4:45 pm } · { idioms }
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Today, I’d like to write about the idiom “turn over a new leaf”. We use this expression when we want to talk about a person making a major change in their lives as a way of improving themselves and becoming a better person. Here are some examples of how to use it in sentences.

I’ve treated my wife very badly in the past, and now I feel terrible about that. I promise that I’m going to turn over a new leaf.

Bill used to be one of the laziest employees at our company, but he’s turned over a new leaf recently. Now he works so hard!

You never exercise and eat too much junk food! You also smoke and drink too much. If you don’t turn over a new leaf, you’re going to get sick!

I thought this expression referred to a leaf on a tree, but apparently it does not. Instead, it refers to the pages of a book which are sometimes called leaves. Therefore, to “turn over a new leaf” means to turn to a new page in a book. I think the book represents our lives and when we turn the page or “turn over a new leaf” it means we are moving to a new and better place.