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Tue 22 Mar, 2005 08:21 pm
Hi,
Choose what should sound more right, and why,
1) I got up of / from the bed.
2) She was wearing wrinkled/crimpled/crumpled clothes.
3) She has a pale face/ a whey-faced/ a white-faced.
4) I was fatigued/exhausted/overburdened.
5) She said that coldly/coolily/tepidly.
I'm looking about the naunce. I think most of the words above are synonyms, and there is no coolily.
Hi, considering that I'm ESL myself I'd say:
1. I got up from the bed.
2. She was wearing crumpled clothes, but only b/c I don't know what the second means
3. She has a pale face, reason see above
4. I was exhausted, if you're totally blowing air after a pile of strenuous work, or overburdened if presently facing that pile of chores
5. She said that coldly, b/c I think the second one isn't really a word and once again I don't know what the third one actually means
Re: words usage
1) I got up from the bed
2) She was wearing wrinkled clothes
3) She has a pale face. Whey face sounds unhealthy, in an insulting sort of way. White face is a maybe, but seems to indicate that she actually has a white colored face, which just doesn't happen
4) Any of the three would be okay, depending on the exact meaning you want to convey.
5) Coldly or tepidly. Coldly would mean with an aloof hostility. Tepidly would mean without much interest or feeling.
Okay, crumpled would also work in 2). I'm guessing wrinkled would work if she had been traveling, for instance, and might use crumpled to indicate neglect or a slovenly nature. The difference is kind of fine, and either would work in most usage.
3. If somebody suddenly turns pale due to fear, shock or injury, you certainly could say “she was white-faced” to describe this temporary state. To describe someone’s normal appearance one would usually say “she has a pale face”. “She has a whey face/is whey-faced” is insulting.
4. “Fatigue” is correct in technical language, such as engineering (e.g. “metal fatigue”) or medicine, but is not a good word to use in ordinary speech; “tired” means the same thing as “fatigued” and is almost always better. “Exhausted” means “very tired”. “Overburdened” just means that you have too many tasks/responsibilities. “I was overburdened” does not necessarily mean that I was tired at all; it might mean that I could not complete all my tasks in time, or that I was making mistakes because I was trying to do too many things at once.
5. There is no “coolily”, but you could certainly say “she said that coolly”. “Coolly” , like “cool”, can have many different nuances depending on the context. If someone makes an emotional appeal and you answer “coolly”, you are refusing to share in their feelings; but if you are in danger and you speak “coolly” you are being fearless and in control of yourself.
Thanks everybody.I always think that fatigued is more than tired in degree or something like that.As I said I was unbelieving about coolily, but coolly makes sense.
Hey could you replace "coolly" by "a matter-of-fact way"?
I.e. "She said that in a matter-of-fact way"
Would the following work? "She was matter-of-fact while saying that."
I know that coldly means without friendly feelings.I'm not sure about using in a matter-of-fact way.
I guess it's new to me.Thanks for updating me thehamster
To use matter of fact in a cold way one could say.
As a matter of fact, I don't love you.
I don't love you, she said coldly.
Quote:I always think that fatigued is more than tired in degree or something like that.
No; you can be slightly fatigued, moderately fatigued or very fatigued. In ordinary speech it is just a fancy, pretentious way of saying "tired", and if you aim for a good English style, you should avoid it.