Igor
I'll be there eightish as an example of approximate time In "A Comprehensive Grammar of English" (p.395) I've run across an example phrase "I'll be there eightish" meaning, as they explain, "I'll be there about eight o'clock". Is it really a good way of saying "I'll be there onish, twoish, threeis, fourish, ... , elevenish, twelvish"? Or should there be any different spelling?
15 мая 2017 г., 17:28
Ответы · 8
1
These expressions are very common in U.S. spoken English. They are slightly informal, but not very. I would write them with a hyphen: one-ish, two-ish, three-ish, four-ish, five-ish, six-ish, seven-ish, eight-ish, nine-ish, ten-ish, eleven-ish, twelve-ish, for two reasons. First, because they are not "real" words, i.e. they are not in the dictionary; second, to clarify the pronunciation in the case where the number ends with a vowel. The native English speaker, seeing "twoish," is distracted for a few milliseconds by the possibility that the "oi" is a diphthong, as in "boil" or "android."
15 мая 2017 г.
1
Hi Igor, When speaking to someone in an informal setting if they are familiar with English you could say one-ish, two-ish ect. However, when speaking in a more formal conversation or if sending a message to be read it is best to rewrite the sentence as, "I'll be there around one o'clock." One-ish, or two-ish sounds too conversational when read in say an email for a job interview or any letter to someone you may not know. Chris
15 мая 2017 г.
I wouldn't really use it in written English but it is very common in conversational English (at least in England it is). If I was writing to a friend I'd use it but "I'll be there at around one/two" would be slightly more formal.
15 мая 2017 г.
Speaking in this manner is very informal so I don't think that anybody can say that there is a right or wrong way to write such words. I would be inclined to put a hyphen in them (for example, five-ish) but I won't say that's the correct way. It's my opinion that "around five" or "about five" is more proper.
15 мая 2017 г.
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