Pelin
Can I use these interchangeably? I recognized him right away. I recognized him in a jiff. I recognized him in a wink. I immediately recognized him.
3 nov. 2018 15:13
Réponses · 5
1
To be honest you don't really use "I recognised him in a jiffy/in a wink" in everyday language. They do mean the same thing, however "I recognised him right away/immediately recognised him" is more common.
3 novembre 2018
I agree with most of the writers who have already weighed in. Yes, all sentences are grammatically correct. However, the second and third sound weird because they're not used in the way a native speaker would say the sentence. "Jiffy" is old slang from my parents' time. You usually hear it used now when someone is saying that they will soon arrive somewhere, such as "I'll be there in a jiff (or jiffy)." I don't think I've ever heard it used in the past tense. The word "wink" is usually not used to mean "quickly" unless it's in the phrase "in the wink of an eye." An interchangeable phrase would be "in the blink of an eye."
4 novembre 2018
"I recognized him right away" and "I immediately recognized him" are common and standard way of saying and writing. "I recognized him in a wink." is not common but grammatically correct. It is a more colorful way of expressing. However, it is better to say, "I recognized him in a blink of the eye". "I recognized him in a jiffY". This is slang.
3 novembre 2018
I agree with Hana english natives don't usually say "recognised in a jiffy, wink of an eye etc" that is used for other situations. "I recognised him immediately/right away/straight away" is the common expression, for recognising someone immediately.
3 novembre 2018
Yes, absolutely. All the sentences are correct.
3 novembre 2018
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