To be pushed or to be pressed ?

Question

Hi,please check my sentence. I have a big doubt about the use of the two verbs mentioned and prepositions:"We are pushed\pressed by\with the deadlines and we are doing our best to respect them"Please tell me how can I stress the fact that we are tired, overwhelmed by work but at the same time we are trying to respect all our deadlines.Also please confirm I can use "to fix" with deadline.Thanks!!!!!Pamela

Avangi · Accepted Answer

"But" might help.

We are pressed by these deadlines, but we are doing our best to meet them.

Pamela81Also please confirm I can use "to fix" with deadline.

I can't imagine how!

Can you please give us a sentence?

Pamela81 · Answer

Hi,

thanks for your reply.

You used "to meet" replacing "to respect" can you explain the reason of your choice? THANKS

"To fix" I mean: "The deadline for sending the orders has been fixed for the 2.1.12"

Do you understand now?

Avangi · Answer

In the US, anyway, "to meet a deadline" is the idiomatic choice. Sometimes we beat the deadline, but when it's still in the future, all we can do is try.

To my ear, to disrespect a deadline would be a deliberate act of contempt. Perhaps the expression is used in other countries.

If you tell your daughter she must be home by midnight, and she comes at one am, you might say, "Okay, you're grounded, because you didn't respect my deadline."

I have the same problem with "fixed." It doesn't seem like the natural choice here, but it's not really incorrect.

Usually to fix a time requires a certain amount of calculation. (You might be able to justify it in some situations.)

I'd probably use "set," or "established."

You might say, "The coroner fixed/established the time of death as 3:15 am."

Pamela81 · Answer

Hi,

thank you for your explanation.

What I don´t get is a word you used in your example: "you are grounded" I looked at the dictionary but it doesn´t make sense the translation I have found. Can you try to explain the concept in a different way?

Thanks!!

Pamela

Avangi · Answer

Hi, Pamela. That's funny.

I suspect the expression originated with aircraft. Of course it's also used with electrical systems, but that's an entirely different sense - although some kind of "attachment to the ground/earth" applies in both cases.

If an airplane is not allowed (or not able) to fly, we say it's grounded.

In the US, anyway, the expression has been borrowed in the field of family discipline of teen-age children. As a punishment for some transgression, they are not allowed to fly, or to leave the nest, as the birds would say.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/08/04/119431/all-f-35-fighter-jets-grounded.html

Pamela81 · Answer

Hi

I could´t imagine

now I know :-)

Thank you so much, you are so nice !!

Regards

Pamela

To be pushed or to be pressed ?

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