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Osama91 Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary

Time Reading?

Hi,
I asked a person (an American): "how can I pray for you?", and he answered "patience and time reading." in that context, what does "time reading" mean? how common is that? I mean, I had never heard that expression before, is it something you usually say? Thank you.
  

Top answer

I can only imagine that it means "time spent reading", but "Patience and time spent reading" does not make much sense to me as an answer to that question. "By being patient and spending time reading" would make more sense grammatically, but I still don't see how it describes a method of praying.

— GPY

  • I can only imagine that it means "time spent reading", but "Patience and time spent reading" does not make much sense to me as an answer to that question.
  • "By being patient and spending time reading" would make more sense grammatically, but I still don't see how it describes a method of praying.
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11 Answers
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I can only imagine that it means "time spent reading", but "Patience and time spent reading" does not make much sense to me as an answer to that question. "By being patient and spending time reading" would make more sense grammatically, but I still don't see how it describes a method of praying.
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"How can I pray for you?"

What kind of answer did you expect?
eg Get down on your knees ??

Clive
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Thank you very much, GPY. What I thought it meant was: the ability to predict what will happen in the future. What do you think?
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No, Clive. That was not the kind if answer I was expecting The guy was facing such a hard time for a reason I wasn't aware of then. I thought when one asks "how can I pray for you?", one doesn't ask for any description as to how to perform prayer.
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osama91Thank you very much, GPY. What I thought it meant was: the ability to predict what will happen in the future. What do you think?
I don't know that meaning.
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More natural in my experience is
eg
Q - What should I pray for, for you?
A - A million dollars. Patience. (etc).

Clive
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CliveMore natural in my experience iseg Q - What should I pray for, for you?A - A million dollars. Patience. (etc). Clive
Oh yes, you may be right. Perhaps it is more the question that is wrong rather than the answer.

For me, the answer to "How can I pray for you?" would have to be a method of prayer.
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Broadly speaking, one prays for things (tangible or intangible).
eg
Q - What should I pray for, for you?
A - Patience. Time to spend reading.

Clive
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CliveBroadly speaking, one prays for things (tangible or intangible).eg Q - What should I pray for, for you?A - Patience. Time to spend reading.Clive
I understand "How can I pray for you?" to mean "How can I pray?" (i.e. in what manner can I pray) + "for you" (= for your benefit). For me, this is an altogether different meaning from "What should I pray
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Yes, 'how?' sounds like 'in what manner?', as I noted earlier
So we are in agreement, right?
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