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Newguest Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary
Get away with ...
Hi
Can "get away with something" mean "passable"?
We wanted to play that old song. The elements were absolutely honed to the absolute minimum of what you needed to kind of get away with it.
--- I understand that they wanted to improve the song a little bit, so that it would be more passable by the audience?
Can "get away with something" mean "passable"?
We wanted to play that old song. The elements were absolutely honed to the absolute minimum of what you needed to kind of get away with it.
--- I understand that they wanted to improve the song a little bit, so that it would be more passable by the audience?
Top answer
To "get away with" an action means to do something without punishment or without criticism. Examples: The bank robbers thought that they would get away with it but the police caught them within minutes of the crime. Judy thought she might get away with wearing the same dress as previously but Mary spotted it straight away and made a snide comment.
- To "get away with" an action means to do something without punishment or without criticism.
- Examples: The bank robbers thought that they would get away with it but the police caught them within minutes of the crime.
- Judy thought she might get away with wearing the same dress as previously but Mary spotted it straight away and made a snide comment.
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4 Answers
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To "get away with" an action means to do something without punishment or without criticism.
Examples:
The bank robbers thought that they would get away with it but the police caught them within minutes of the crime.
Judy thought she might get away with wearing the same dress as previously but Mary spotted it straight away and made a snide comment.
Examples:
The bank robbers thought that they would get away with it but the police caught them within minutes of the crime.
Judy thought she might get away with wearing the same dress as previously but Mary spotted it straight away and made a snide comment.
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Hi
So, actually, passable is pretty much OK.
They wanted to play an old song, but first they decided to improve it a little bit so as to avoid the criticism from the audience and make it more passable.
Am I right?
So, actually, passable is pretty much OK.
They wanted to play an old song, but first they decided to improve it a little bit so as to avoid the criticism from the audience and make it more passable.
Am I right?
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No.
Passable is the wrong word here. Audiences don't find anything passable. Acceptable is a better word.
But I'm not sure quite what the original sentence was talking about, without the context. It could be something else entirely. Maybe they should have written a new song but fiddled about with an old one just enough to 'get away with it' - 'it' could maybe refer to breaking c
Passable is the wrong word here. Audiences don't find anything passable. Acceptable is a better word.
But I'm not sure quite what the original sentence was talking about, without the context. It could be something else entirely. Maybe they should have written a new song but fiddled about with an old one just enough to 'get away with it' - 'it' could maybe refer to breaking c
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Hi nona!
The members of the band recorded a song 20 years ago and now 20 years later wanted to play it during one of their concerts. So, I understand they just wanted to improve it a bit, so as not to be criticized by their fans and probably by journalists as well. As you said, they wanted the old song to sound more "acceptable", I guess.
The members of the band recorded a song 20 years ago and now 20 years later wanted to play it during one of their concerts. So, I understand they just wanted to improve it a bit, so as not to be criticized by their fans and probably by journalists as well. As you said, they wanted the old song to sound more "acceptable", I guess.
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