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Usenet Posted 19 years ago
Usage
Grind away at one's books
Is the expression "grind away at one's books" (meaning "work hard at one's studies") correct?
And if it is correct, would you still consider avoiding it for the following reasons:
1. It sounds somewhat unnatural.
2. Google turns up only a handful of references to this expression, soit must be very rare and may be misunderstood even by native speakers.
Mike
And if it is correct, would you still consider avoiding it for the following reasons:
1. It sounds somewhat unnatural.
2. Google turns up only a handful of references to this expression, soit must be very rare and may be misunderstood even by native speakers.
Mike
Top answer
[/nq] That'd be my guess. It's not terribly common though. [nq:1]And if it is correct, would you still consider avoiding it for the following reasons: 1.
- [/nq] That'd be my guess.
- It's not terribly common though.
- [nq:1]And if it is correct, would you still consider avoiding it for the following reasons: 1.
- [/nq] Agreed.
- It sounds goofy.
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3 Answers
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[nq:1]Is the expression "grind away at one's books" (meaning "work hard at one's studies") correct?[/nq]
That'd be my guess. It's not terribly common though.
[nq:1]And if it is correct, would you still consider avoiding it for the following reasons: 1. It sounds somewhat unnatural.[/nq]
Agreed. It sounds goofy.
[nq:1]2. Google turns up only a handful of references to this expressio
That'd be my guess. It's not terribly common though.
[nq:1]And if it is correct, would you still consider avoiding it for the following reasons: 1. It sounds somewhat unnatural.[/nq]
Agreed. It sounds goofy.
[nq:1]2. Google turns up only a handful of references to this expressio
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To those of us (Americans) of an older generation, the usage is quite natural. When I was in college, "grind" was used as a noun meaning either (1) someone who worked hard at his/her studies or (2) the process of doing all that studying. Studying hard was "grinding." "Grind away at one's books" might seem a bit unnatural, and even redundant, but it's easy to understand and has a clear meaning.
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[nq:2]That'd be my guess. It's not terribly common though. Agreed. ... a rather goofy way. At least to my American ears.[/nq]
[nq:1]To those of us (Americans) of an older generation, the usage is quite natural. When I was in college, "grind" ... grind" means a dull, repetitive job. Whether it comes from "grindstone" or some other source is something I don't know.[/nq]
"Grind" is still in c
[nq:1]To those of us (Americans) of an older generation, the usage is quite natural. When I was in college, "grind" ... grind" means a dull, repetitive job. Whether it comes from "grindstone" or some other source is something I don't know.[/nq]
"Grind" is still in c
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