Jenny
as rare as hen's teeth Hello I have a question about the sentence below Evidence is as rare as hen's teeth that we can't arrest her Does it mean that evidence is so rare that we can't arrest her? or evidence that we can't arrest her is rare? Thank you for your advice
Sep 22, 2014 6:18 AM
Answers · 3
1
The reason why you can't understand this sentence is simple - it has no clear meaning. My guess is that it was written by a non-native speaker in an effort to use the use the expression 'rare as hen's teeth'. They are trying so hard to 'shoe-horn' this expression into a sentence that they have written something that just doesn't make sense. Perhaps they are trying to use the construction 'xxx was so xxx that....' (as in 'There was so little evidence that ....) , but the word 'that' on its own can't make the sentence work. What the writer wants to say is that there is too little evidence to arrest her. 'Rare' is the wrong word here, and the use of the the hen's teeth idiom makes no sense grammatically. Please forget about this sentence, Jenny. I suspect that your English is better than the writer's.
September 22, 2014
1
I agree with Dennis - the sentence is awkward and non-native. If something is as rare as hen's teeth, it's extremely rare. This is a fairly general concept, so it sounds strange to pair it with something as specific as evidence of a crime. Maybe a better idiom might be "thin on the ground", but it still means you're talking about something serious in a colloquial manner (which is probably also why the sentence sounds unnatural - this is very difficult to do).
September 22, 2014
Actually , that sentence is very poorly written so that is unnatural and vague. When presented with phrases and sentences like that ,I would ask for an explanation or another example. I am a native speaker and very rarely have I heard the expression about a hen's teeth. Hope I helped ...keep up the good work with your English.
September 22, 2014
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