More or less
Trump’s national security team has been playing down tensions. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said over the weekend that “we're not closer to war than a week ago, but we are closer to war than we were a decade ago." CIA Director Mike Pompeo said of the notion that the U.S. and North Korea are on the verge of nuclear war, "I've seen no intelligence that would indicate that we're in that place today.” And in a Sunday Wall Street Journal op-ed, co-authors Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis called for applying “diplomatic and economic pressure” in cooperation with the international community to hold Pyongyang to account, more or less an intensification of long-standing practice.
What does "more or less an intensification of long-standing practice" mean? Is it the object of "account"?
Top answer
No, "account" is a noun there, not a verb ("hold someone to account" is a set phrase). " is similar to what has been happening for a long time, but more intense.
- No, "account" is a noun there, not a verb ("hold someone to account" is a set phrase).
- " is similar to what has been happening for a long time, but more intense.
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No, "account" is a noun there, not a verb ("hold someone to account" is a set phrase).
"more or less an intensification of long-standing practice" means that "applying 'diplomatic and economic pressure' etc." is similar to what has been happening for a long time, but more intense.
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