a piece of work

Hello BW

Unfortunately the phrase "a piece of work of art" isn't ok.

You can say "a piece of art" or "a work of art", but you can't combine the two!

MrP

"A piece of work" is also possible, and may be what is called for here since you say the movie is an exploitation. 'A piece of work' can be read as a compliment or an insult.

Davkett's right:
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861726108/piece_of_work.html

The movie is a piece of work of art because it exploits the musical characteristic of the lanugage.

Is this sentence OK?

Thank you

(I should have said: "characteristic" => "characteristics", "lanugage" => "language".)

MrP

Hi guys,

Shakespeare wrote What a piece of work is man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties . . .

Despite this, when I hear the phrase used today about a person, without any qualifying adjectives, it mostly seems to have a negative connotation.

eg A: Your new colleague, Tom, is a piece of work. B: OK, thanks for the warning, I'll be careful.

I think in this context, I would plump for "work of art".

MrP

MrPedanticI think in this context, I would plump for "work of art".

I might agree in the end if I knew what movie was being referred to, what language was being referred to, and who was making the statement--or if I knew what 'plump for' meant

Hello Davkett

I should probably have explained that I'm not familiar with "piece of work" in its non-literal sense; so I can't really get the derogatory meaning!

(I was about to say, I don't think it's used in BrE; but then someone from Chepstow or Basingstoke would pop up and tell me the people round there say nothing but.)

MrP