The verb "to house" usage

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Hi,I'd like make more precise the usage of the verb "to house". For instance, there's a sentence,"A large number of families are still waiting to be housed." Are these people waiting for permanent housing or just for temporary housing after a flooding or something?Thanks in advance,AK

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I'd like make more precise the usage of the verb "to house". For instance, there's a sentence, "A large ... to be housed." Are these people waiting for permanent housing or just for temporary housing after a flooding or something?[/nq]
Could be either.

John Dean
Oxford

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I'd like make more precise the usage of the verb "to house". For instance, there's a sentence, "A large number of families are still waiting to be housed." Are these people waiting for permanent housing or just for temporaryhousing after a flooding or something?[/nq]
In this case, it sounds like they're talking about temporary housing. But "to house" could be used for permanent housing as well: "This stately mansion has housed six generations of the Askin family."

Also, you need to say "flood" when it's preceded by an article: There was a flood on the Mississippi yesterday. "Flooding" is used without an article: Flooding occurred along the Mississippi yesterday. This might also imply that less water was involved than in a full-blown flood. A dictionary would probably explain the difference better than I can.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I'd like make more precise the usage of the verb "to house". For instance, there's a sentence, "A large ... to be housed." Are these people waiting for permanent housing or just for temporary housing after a flooding or something?[/nq]
There's also the "Yo, I house you!" usage to bear in mind.

Steny '08!

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I'd like make more precise the usage of the verb "to house". For instance, there's a sentence, "A large ... to be housed." Are these people waiting for permanent housing or just for temporary housing after a flooding or something?[/nq]
In BrE either would be possible: context would show which was intended. (Perhaps I should say that UK local authorities are responsible for seeing that proper housing is provided for those who can't buy or rent it for themselves, the first priority being families who are temporarily lodged in bed-and-breakfast accommodation, and also, where I live, single youngsters (16-18) who have to leave foster-parents at 16 or whose families reject them. At present the system is overstretched in some districts, especially where large numbers of immigrants have gathered - I suppose for mutual support. "Housed" doesn't, at least for me, cover b-and-b or refugee camps; it has to be settled accommodation - a house or flat or apartment for a family, a room in a shared house for youngsters.)
Alan Jones

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I'd like make more precise the usage of the verb ... or just for temporary housing after a flooding or something?[/nq]
Could be either. 'To house' simply means 'to provide with housing'. Says nothing about temporary or permanent.
[nq:1]There's also the "Yo, I house you!" usage to bear in mind.[/nq]
Don't know that one, but is it pronounced /hawz/ or /haws/? The verb 'to house' discussed above is /hawz/, while the noun 'house' is /haws/.
-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler Michigan Linguistics "A written word is mummified until someone imparts life to it by transposing it mentally into the corresponding spoken word." Otto Jespersen

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Could be either. 'To house' simply means 'to provide with housing'. Says nothing about temporary or permanent.[/nq]
[nq:2]There's also the "Yo, I house you!" usage to bear in mind.[/nq]
[nq:1]Don't know that one, but is it pronounced /hawz/ or /haws/?[/nq]
/haws/.

Steny '08!

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Hi, I'd like make more precise the usage of the ... or just for temporary housing after a flooding or something?[/nq]
[nq:1]There's also the "Yo, I house you!" usage to bear in mind.[/nq]
And, 'House by you?'.

john

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John O'Flaherty wrote on 04 Dec 2004:
[nq:2]There's also the "Yo, I house you!" usage to bear in mind.[/nq]
[nq:1]And, 'House by you?'.[/nq]
And "House it going, dude?"

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
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On 4 Dec 2004 08:03:20 GMT, CyberCypher
[nq:1]John O'Flaherty wrote on 04 Dec 2004:[/nq]
[nq:2]And, 'House by you?'.[/nq]
[nq:1]And "House it going, dude?"[/nq]
And, in Leeds:
"Knock, knock."
"House thur?"

Ross Howard

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]John O'Flaherty wrote on 04 Dec 2004:[/nq]
[nq:2]And, 'House by you?'.[/nq]
[nq:1]And "House it going, dude?"[/nq]
That's noun "house", or else we're in Chicago (TLCIA).

Steny '08!

The verb "to house" usage

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