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Lux
more than can be said
The man lost control and skidded off the road, crashing straight through the side of the police station.A police spokesman added:"He was unhurt, which is more than can be said for the car and the police station."
What does the phrase "more than can be said" mean?
The man was unhurt, how about the car and the police station? Were they badly damaged or not? Please help me, thanks
Feb 26, 2015 8:36 PM
Answers · 3
2
The idea of the man being fine which was 'more that can be said for the car and the police station' is that the police station and car are badly damaged: the two are completely wrecked from the looks of it. It's a common english expression that people use, for example, 'he fell down into a puddle; he was fine which is more than can be said about his new shoes'. It's essentially a way of saying that the thing we expected to happen to the person or thing didn't happen but something else was affected. It's not that complicated to understand if you think about what the words mean, 'it was more than what could be said': you couldn't say that the car was fine as it had just crashed.
hope i could help :)
February 26, 2015
1
It means that whereas the man escaped injury, the car and police station were badly damaged. You couldn't really say they car and police station were "unhurt" (ie. undamaged).
February 26, 2015
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Lux
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, Vietnamese
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), English
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