"It will be hotter here today, scorching to 29 degrees Celsius."

Question

"It will be hotter here today, scorching to 29 degrees Celsius."I tried to understand the sentence and I was confused with the word scorching there, so it is an adjective like it is hot and scorching to 29? And then what does the preposition to functions as there? To usually implies movement, right? Or scorch is used as a verb like it will be hotter as it scorches to 29?What do you native English speakers think? Thank you so much as usual in advance.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Hans51I was confused ~~with~~ by the word scorching

To scorch is to burn partially, producing blackened areas but without consuming everything in flames. So it's used more or less poetically here to indicate extreme heat, but in a novel way. There is no literal scorching going on here!

You may as well substitute "rising" for "scorching" in that weather forecast.

This is an example of a writer attempting to vary the usual vocabulary of a boring subject in order to be a little more entertaining than usual for the readers. It's nothing that should be imitated by others. In other words, there is little to be gained by trying to master this use of "scorch" because neither of us will probably ever see it again.

Note that similar word play is seen in the world of finance and in the world of sports, and, as with this example, other examples are often one-time instances of that particular word play.

CJ

Mister Micawber · Answer

I think it is an informal ad hoc coinage of 'scorching' used as a participle instead of an adjective.  It is not normally used that way.

"It will be hotter here today, scorching to 29 degrees Celsius."

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions