he exclaimed under his breath/ hung up to us by the skin of his teeth

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to give me your considered opinion concerning the interpretation of the expressions in bold in the following sentence?

“My God!” exclaimed Chisolm, under his breath. “Carry!”

We had first known him as a boy, small, insignificant, and poor, who hung on to us, so to speak, by the skin of his teeth – barely accepted by our select band of adventurous youths in the town of Levenford. (A. J. Cronin, “Carry”)

he exclaimed under his breath = he exclaimed in a whisper

hung up to us by the skin of his teeth = hung up to us just barely (very narrowly)

V.

[emsr2d2]

You seem to have changed "hung on to us" in the original piece, to "hung up to us" in the latter part of your post. Why?

[vil]

Hi emsr2d2,

You seem to have changed "hung on to us" in the original piece, to "hung up to us" in the latter part of your post. Why?

I made it involuntarily by oversight and misunderstanding of simplest things in English language.

Thank you for your strict exactness.

V.