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1. He agreed Monday to plead guilty to dogfighting charges.  What does 'plead to' mean here?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

1. He agreed Monday to plead guilty to dogfighting charges. What does 'plead to' mean here? 'Plea' in a legal sense is how a person 'answers' when they are charged with a crime in a court. The choices are usually 'I am guilty' or 'I am not guilty'. 'To plead' is the verbal form.

2. I think 'less' is already the comparative form of 'little', so where 'lesser' comes from? There can be subtle differences in usage, but here's a couple of comments to consider.

'Less' refers to a smaller amount. eg I have less money than Mary and Tom.

'Lesser' is used when you are comparing 'two things'. eg There were two amountsof money on the table. I picked up the lesser amount.

3. What does interjection mean? Is it a part of speech or a kind of sentence? Its roots are Latin words that relate to 'throw between'. If you interject, you abruptly interrupt someone who is speaking. An interjection is often only indirectly related to what is being said. The interrupted speaker then continues. The interjection can be brief, eg one word, or in the form of a usually short sentence.

4. Is 'sense' used more for non-physical things: Do you sense the tension between them? Can I say that? Yes. Is this correct? Generally speaking, yes. I wouldn't entirely say that something like 'I sensed that she was angry' is related to non-physical things. I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'non-physical'.

Best wishes, Clive

MIA6 · Answer

Thanks, Clive. For the first question, the sentence means he agreed to answer if he himself  is guilty? I don't quite understand what you said about 'less' and 'lesser'.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

For the first question, the sentence means he agreed to answer if he himself is guilty? If you are charged with robbing a bank, they will ask you in court, basically, did you do it or not? You answer (or plead) 'I am guilty' or 'I am not not guilty.'

I don't quite understand what you said about 'less' and 'lesser'. It might be good to note that 'lesser' is used much, much less often than the word 'less'. In his Practical English Usage', Michael Swan comments that it appears mainly in a few particular expressions like 'a lesser-known composer' or 'the lesser of two evils'. So, in practical terms, I wouldn't give it too much thought if I were you.

Best wishes, Clive

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