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Vincent Teo Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Broken car
Can I say,
The truck is towing a broken car.
The truck is towing a broken down car / broken-down car.
The truck is towing a broken car.
The truck is towing a broken down car / broken-down car.
Top answer
It's not idiomatic to say that the car is broken. " When something fails to operate properly, we say it doesn't work. " "Broken down car" is fine.
- It's not idiomatic to say that the car is broken.
- " When something fails to operate properly, we say it doesn't work.
- " "Broken down car" is fine.
- To be honest, I don't know about the hyphen.
- "Broken-down" must be listed in some source - or not.
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1 Answers
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It's not idiomatic to say that the car is broken. We speak of "a broken window, headlight, axle, door handle, fan belt, radiator hose, etc." When something fails to operate properly, we say it doesn't work. If we suspect it may be easily repaired (as opposed to "replaced") we'd more likely say "it's not working ." (the radio, alternator, air conditioning, defroster.) If it needs to be replac
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