daley
describe vs explain vs interpret vs clear ?! Suddenly the door of the store-room was opened and a man entered. Mrs Richards realized that it must be the man from the Electricity Board who had come to read the meter. She tried to ______ the situation, saying 'It's only me', but it was too late. The man let out a cry and jumped back several paces. А) describe; B) explain; C) interpret; D) clear Is it explain? Can you explain the differences among these words in this context, please? Thanks in advance.
17 dic 2014 07:25
Risposte · 2
2
The answer is explain. By saying "It's only me", the speaker is trying to give understanding of the situation to the other person. "Describe" could be used in this situation, but the word "describe" is generally used for physical attributes or setting. To distinguish between these two, just remember: to describe = physical, to explain = mental. "to interpret" means to gain understanding for yourself through examination. To distinguish between "to interpret" and "to explain", just remember: to interpret = self, to explain = others. "to clear" here doesn't make much sense. "to clear" usually means to clean or restore to a neutral state such as "clearing the table" or "clearing the aisle". The phrase "to clear up" is synonymous with "to explain" though, so be careful. Hope this helps :)
17 dicembre 2014
1
Hi Daley: The verb forms would be: (a) to explain (b) to describe (c) to clarify I think "explain" is the more common word in general conversation. Describe could apply to anything either physical or non-physical. Clarify is not necessarily distinct, because to explain, is to describe something, which equates to the clarification of some subject. Many students of English have difficulties with Synonyms, which is your difficulty here. Oddly, many students ask continually for the "differences" in meaning. Differences pertain generally, to Antonyms, the words with Opposite Meanings. Synonyms have "like or similar" meanings. Type any word for a search like this, and you will learn much: CLARIFY + SYNONYMS EXPLAIN + SYNONYMS DESCRIBE + SYNONYMS. The power of English is the great variety of terms it can use to communicate its ideas. Otherwise, all we would do is reduced the entire language to a few primitive words and expressions. .
17 dicembre 2014
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