Glue together?
Hello!
Subtleties of language:
If I want to say to my kids that they should cut pairs of geometric shapes (as circles and squares) and glue the back of a blue circle on the back of a red circle, then the back of a green square on the back of an orange square (and so on), can I say "cut out the shapes and glue the backs of similiar shapes together"?
Just for curiosity, I checked this question with Google translate (that is not an accurate tool, I know) and it cuts the "together". The use of "glue (...) together" doesn't seem rethoric to me: if I just say "glue the backs of the similar shapes", I am not defining in what surface should the kids glue their shapes. However, if I say "glue the pieces together", I am making it clear that the pieces should be glued onto each other.
What would be the best way to express this idea of "cut out the shapes and glue the backs of similiar shapes together"?
BTW I am using the word "similar" because although the shapes are identical, they have different colors. Is it right?
Top answer
Good question. I had to think a minute. " The shapes are the same, not similar.
- Good question.
- I had to think a minute.
- " The shapes are the same, not similar.
- Google translate got it quite wrong.
- It is a crude tool, but it often does a fair job of untangling gnarly grammar in a target language.
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Good question. I had to think a minute. I guess I would say "Cut out the shapes, and then glue same shapes back-to-back with the edges lined up." The shapes are the same, not similar. Google translate got it quite wrong. It is a crude tool, but it often does a fair job of untangling gnarly grammar in a target language.
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