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Ana Varela
Is it better to use the word croaky or hoarse?
Today I woke up and because of a cold I cannot speak...I would like to know the best way to describe my voice:
a) Today I am really croaky, I am almost out of voice.
b) Today I am really hoarse.
Or is it better like:
a) Today my voice is very croaky.
b) Today my voice e very hoarse.
Thank you!
May 14, 2015 10:26 AM
Answers · 5
3
a) Today I am really croaky, I am almost out of voice.
Today I am really croaky, I HAVE almost LOST MY voice.
The other options all work well but:
a) Today my voice is very croaky.
b) Today my voice is very hoarse.
are probably more commonly used. Croaky would be more informal but they both mean the same thing.
Lily
May 14, 2015
1
You say 'lost your voice', not 'out of voice'.
'I have almost lost my voice', or if you can't speak at all, 'I have lost my voice.'
You can use 'to be' e.g. I am losing my voice, but as you can see this is present continuous and isn't appropriate for what you were trying to say before.
Anyway I don't think there is a big difference between 'croaky' and 'hoarse' as adjectives here.
Your latter two options 'Today my voice is very croaky/hoarse' sound more natural to me.
'Hoarse' can also be used if you have damaged your voice by shouting.
Myself, I would probably just use the word 'bad' instead to describe this feeling.
I have a bad throat today.
My voice is bad today.
May 14, 2015
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Ana Varela
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Portuguese, Russian
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), French, Russian
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