Archive for May, 2014

grammatical expression: to lose one’s cool

{ May 30, 2014 @ 10:28 pm } · { grammatical expression }
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This time around I would like to write about the expression “lose one’s cool”. We use it when we want to talk about a person who loses their ability to remain calm in a stressful situation. Here are some ways to use it in sentences.

Jack is a very calm person. He never loses his cool.

My friend got fired from his job because he lost his cool with one of the clients.

Bill can be a very aggressive person, but you shouldn’t lose your cool with him. If he says something offensive, just ignore him.

I need to get some air. I’m very upset right now because of what Jerry just said, and I feel like I’m going to lose my cool.

So, if a person loses their cool, they can either get upset or angry about something. The difference is that if a person gets upset, they have an emotional reaction to a bad situation, but if they get angry, they have an aggressive reaction to the situation. Therefore, being upset is much more passive in feeling than being angry.

Generally speaking, if a person loses their cool by getting upset, they cry. If a person loses their cool by getting angry, they will shout or could possibly do something a little violent like hitting someone or breaking something.

grammatical word: (not) budge

{ May 11, 2014 @ 5:48 pm } · { grammatical word }
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Today, I’d like to write about the verb “budge”. It’s almost always used in the negative, and we use it when we want to talk about a person or thing not moving from a certain position. Let me give you some example sentences using it.

I have to buy something in that store. Don’t budge from this spot! I don’t want you to get lost.

The traffic is so heavy right now. The cars in front of me haven’t budged in fifteen minutes.

I asked the salesman to give us a discount, but he wouldn’t budge from the original price.

I tried to persuade my husband to come to the party, but he won’t budge. He’s so stubborn!

As you can see from my examples, there are two ways of using this. We can use it to describe people or things that don’t move physically, as in my first two examples.

We can also use it to talk about people who don’t move away from a decision or opinion that they already have. In other words, they refuse to change their minds about something. My last two sentences are examples of this.

Please note that in my first sentence, the speaker is probably a parent speaking to a child. If you said, “Don’t budge from this spot!” to an adult, it’s extremely strong, and the other person would probably get angry.