Advanced everyday english: Advanced vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms and expressions - Collins Steven 2011
Lesson Two. To be flawed, a flaw
Chapter Nine
Examples:
✵ Their plans for the company are flawed in that they do not properly deal with the problem of staving off bankruptcy.
✵ On paper, her ideas are quite plausible, but they have one major flaw: they don’t take account of the general public’s apathy toward local politics.
To embellish
i. (To add details to a story to make it sound more interesting/humorous) Examples:
✵ A: He does tend to embellish his stories somewhat. I’d take everything he says with a large pinch of salt if I were you.
B: Why? You’ve definitely got it in for him, for some reason.
✵ In the advert were going to have to embellish the job details and what it entails; we don’t want candidates to know we’re dumbing down.
ii. (To decorate—especially food rather than buildings)
Example:
✵ I’ve got a bit of a bee in my bonnet about chefs who over-embellish their cakes with fruit.
To hamper (To restrict or interfere with the progress of something)
Examples:
✵ The police were severely hampered in their investigations by a crowd of people who were embroiled in a heated dispute.
✵ We all psyched ourselves up for a long journey which would no doubt be hampered by the weather. My husband said we should have pre-empted this and left the day before, as he had suggested. He was clearly welling up with resentment towards me.
To linger, lingering (To take a long time leaving a place/To stay in the area and not go away quickly, long-lasting, remaining)
Examples:
✵ We lingered over lunch, embellishing old memories of our childhood together. I don’t think we were deprived of much.
✵ The general impression I got is that customers are welcome to browse...but not linger for too long.
✵ Doctor to patient It’s quite feasible that you have had a lingering virus that has made you feel a bit under the weather... but there’s nothing untoward to worry about.
✵ If you have any lingering doubts and are still feeling a bit sceptical, let me know and I’ll take you through the proceedings once again.
Overall (Taking things altogether/by and large—usually followed by something positive)
Examples:
✵ Overall, we shouldn’t really complain; they did try to make amends for what they had done.
✵ There were a few flaws with the design, but overall we were quite chuffed with the results.
Outburst (Sudden showing of emotions/feelings)
Examples:
✵ The media are quite clearly trying to cash in on the Princess’s death, but the public are in no mood to curb this outburst of grief.
✵ There was an outburst of applause when the actress flaunted her baby in front of her adoring fans.
To allege, alleged, allegedly (To accuse, claim, declare without proof, [alleged] accused, [allegedly] supposedly—often used by people in the media to protect themselves from being sued, i.e. when they don’t have 100% proof of their allegation)
Examples:
✵ It is alleged that the defendant pestered Miss Jones for many years, despite his claim that he had turned over a new leaf.
✵ She alleges that her husband perpetually beat her. Be under no illusions: their marriage was flourishing until she took to dabbling in drugs.
✵ The alleged thief apparently thrived on causing uproar in the village.
✵ A: His mother built him up to be something he wasn’t, and too often gave him the benefit of the doubt. He’s a cocky liar.
B: Allegedly!
To be shattered
i. (To be very tired)
Examples:
✵ I resent having to get up early at the weekends; I’m shattered by Friday.
✵ Let’s not linger over dinner tonight; I’m shattered and could do with an early night.
ii. (To be shocked/devastated/distressed by news)
Examples:
✵ After being broody for so long, she was shattered by the news that she can’t have children. She and her husband had been clutching at straws over the last few years.
✵ The company’s employees were all shattered when they discovered that many of the directors had been raking it in while they had been struggling to make ends meet.
iii. (To be smashed to pieces)
Examples:
✵ The firemen were hampered in their work because all the windows in the house had been shattered.
✵ She’d been stringing him along all these years and now his dreams are shattered.
To deem (To consider/think, to declare—often something negative or difficult to accept)
Examples:
✵ After weighing up all the options, the headteacher deemed it necessary to get rid of all the disruptive pupils in the school.
✵ The Government’s plans to revitalise the National Health Service were deemed to be implausible by the Opposition.
To blur, blurred (To affect one’s vision, to make something unclear, [blurred] distorted/unclear)
Examples:
✵ Alcohol lingers in the blood stream for 24 hours and can blur your vision. ..and then you might write your car off if you drive.
✵ The Ministry of Defence have bowed to pressure put on them by the Prime Minister to come up with a statement about Iraq. Many commentators believe that the truth has been blurred.
✵ Everything suddenly went blurred and the next thing I knew was that I had passed out.To say I was scared is something of an understatement.
“We lingered over lunch, embellishing old memories of our childhood together. I don’t think we were deprived of much”
(see page 123)