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Exodejavu Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary
Have/has a ... bone in someone's body
Hi,
Given the definition of this phrase...
not have a ... bone in your body
to have none of the quality mentioned:
She was honest and hard-working, and didn’t have an unkind bone in her body.
http://www.oup.com/oald-bin/web_getald7index1a.pl?nav=on&which_entry=004206%23x1%23x1%23bone&selected_word=bone&search_word=bone
Can I get rid of the negative wording to make a positive sentence?
Like
He has a prejudiced bone in his body.
He had a prejudiced bone in his body.
Is it safe to write so?
Regards
Given the definition of this phrase...
not have a ... bone in your body
to have none of the quality mentioned:
She was honest and hard-working, and didn’t have an unkind bone in her body.
http://www.oup.com/oald-bin/web_getald7index1a.pl?nav=on&which_entry=004206%23x1%23x1%23bone&selected_word=bone&search_word=bone
Can I get rid of the negative wording to make a positive sentence?
Like
He has a prejudiced bone in his body.
He had a prejudiced bone in his body.
Is it safe to write so?
Regards
Top answer
Absolutely not! This is a fixed expression. There are so many bones in your body!
- Absolutely not!
- This is a fixed expression.
- There are so many bones in your body!
- You'd think there'd be room for all different types.
- It's figurative!
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8 Answers
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Absolutely not!
This is a fixed expression.
There are so many bones in your body! You'd think there'd be room for all different types.
It's figurative! Let a bone represent each of his traits, or qualities. If he's really strong on something, give him ten of those bones.
- but not one single bone for "prejudice" !
This is a fixed expression.
There are so many bones in your body! You'd think there'd be room for all different types.
It's figurative! Let a bone represent each of his traits, or qualities. If he's really strong on something, give him ten of those bones.
- but not one single bone for "prejudice" !
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You're welcome.
If you want something on the positive side, you might say, "He has a streak of prejudice in him." "Streak" here means something like a scar, or bit of imperfection. I'm thinking of a streak like a vein of gold in the rock ledge of a mine. But "vein" has a different usage in the body and gold is rarely considered an imperfection.
If you want something on the positive side, you might say, "He has a streak of prejudice in him." "Streak" here means something like a scar, or bit of imperfection. I'm thinking of a streak like a vein of gold in the rock ledge of a mine. But "vein" has a different usage in the body and gold is rarely considered an imperfection.
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Ha. I thought the question of my post belonged to writing, so I posted it there.
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I forgot that I had logged out.
When I noticed that, the milk had already been spilt.
When I noticed that, the milk had already been spilt.
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