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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Can a stack of boxes be "broken"?

I work in a bakery, and we stack rectangular boxes perpendicularly about 6 or 7 high next to the person packing the bread, and today I stacked one on the very top and it caused the box beneath it (the second box down from the top) to slide out a little bit and then one of the ends of that box fell within the box below it, causing it to tilt slightly with another box stacked on top of it (a total of two boxes.) My coworker said "You broke it!" To which I replied, "No, you cannot break a stack of boxes, you can only disarrange the stack or cause it to collapse." In order to say something can break, does it need to be a solid object or several objects that are interconnected or affixed to create one assembled object, and then cause real physical damage to it?
  

Top answer

" I would use 'collapse' certainly, not 'disarrange'. Anonymous In order to say something can break, does it need to be a solid object or several objects that are interconnected or affixed to create one assembled object, and then cause real physical damage to it? Yes it needs to be a single entity in order to break (suffer physical damage).

— Mister Micawber

  • " I would use 'collapse' certainly, not 'disarrange'.
  • Anonymous In order to say something can break, does it need to be a solid object or several objects that are interconnected or affixed to create one assembled object, and then cause real physical damage to it?
  • Yes it needs to be a single entity in order to break (suffer physical damage).
  • The stack collapsed and several boxes broke.
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1 Answers
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AnonymousTo which I replied, "No, you cannot break a stack of boxes, you can only disarrange the stack or cause it to collapse."
I would use 'collapse' certainly, not 'disarrange'.
AnonymousIn order to say something can break, does it need to be a solid object or several objects that are interconnected or affixed to create one assembled
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