kick start

Question

HiPlease tell me if this is OK.The student discussion is kick started as the teacher completes his explanation on the topic.

GPY · Accepted Answer

The student discussion is kick-started as the teacher completes his explanation of the topic.

Vsuresh · Answer

Thank you, GPY.

Clive · Answer

The word 'kick-start' suggests that some vigorous impetus started the discussion.
Consider this more literal example.
He kick-started his motor-cycle by pressing violently on the starter-pedal.

The mere fact that the teacher completed his explanation does not sound like a kick-start.
Compare eg Tom kick-started the student discussion by telling the teacher loudly that his explanation was completely wrong.

Clive

Vsuresh · Answer

It is really inspiring to learn that you spend time to make us understand the idea with appropriate examples.

Thank you,Clive.

CalifJim · Answer

vsureshPlease tell me if this is OK.The student discussion is kick started as the teacher completes his explanation on the topic.

It's not the best way to say it. The following seems more idiomatic to me.

The teacher kick-started the student discussion by explaining the topic.

Even so, "explaining a topic" seems rather tame as a way to kick-start a discussion. Maybe, by making a highly controversial remark related to the topic.

CJ

GPY · Answer

I assumed there was some other event, not explicitly mentioned in this sentence, that "kick-starts" the discussion. If so, the original sentence is OK in my opinion, though the tense is not the most usual.

Grammarfreak · Answer

Here is my extra two cents on the topic. We usually use this expression to describe a process in which a stimulus or external force is introduced to reignite or re-energize a stalling process. In your sentence, "kick-started " has a the connotation that the discussion was going on at one point but lost participation or stopped. Was this the intended meaning ? The expression can be used passively but normally used in active voice. There is no better example than the ailing world economy during the late 2009 to use this expression as an example in my opinion:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100607939

Cyprus plans to lift a ban on casinos and offer firms tax exemptions on profits reinvested on the island under a package of reforms to kickstart its ailing economy, its president said on Monday.www.canadianbusiness.com/36-radical-ideas-to-kick-st...?

Canadian Business

36 radical ideas to kick-start Canada's economy. Move your whole business to the could. Connect your toothbrush to the Internet.thecable.foreignpolicy.com/.../biden_and_donilon_prepar...?

Foreign Policy

Jan 30, 2013 - ... Security Advisor Tom Donilon will travel to Moscow next month to try to kick-start a new round of U.S.-Russia nuclear reduction negotiations, ...

Vsuresh · Answer

Thank you, CJ and grammakfreak.

Hi grammarfreak, I went through the sentence in the link you have mentioned and understood where the verb fits best.

kick start

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