Forum newsfeeds
Forum Newsfeeds


Sites for Teachers

Sites for Teachers


Go Back   UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum > Learning English > Ask a Teacher

Notices

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 18-Jul-2007, 05:57
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Country: India
Posts: 166
Current Location: New Delhi, India
First Language: Hindi
Member Type: Other
Thanks: 10
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Romel Panzer is on a distinguished road
Exclamation chip away

“The truth is that many of their assumptions about the underlying causes of extremism are flawed. Every fresh terrorist attack “chips away” the idea that foreign policy and socio-economic factors are the sole drivers of Islamist extremism, making the Muslim default position more untenable.” I think the meaning of “chips away” in the above is “to lessen the effect”, “to weaken”. And the “Muslim default” here means cause due to Muslims. Please clarify and confirm.
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 18-Jul-2007, 09:43
Editor, UsingEnglish.com
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Country: UK
Posts: 25,661
Current Location: Phnom Penh
First Language: English
Member Type: English Teacher
Thanks: 6
Thanked 536 Times in 472 Posts
Tdol has disabled reputation
Default Re: chip away

Chip away- lessen, weaken little by little
Default position- the standard position they use as an argument/defence
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 18-Jul-2007, 17:27
BobK's Avatar
Moderator
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Country: England (South East)
Posts: 6,045
Current Location: England (South East)
First Language: English
Member Type: English Teacher
Thanks: 91
Thanked 1,030 Times in 910 Posts
BobK has much to be proud ofBobK has much to be proud ofBobK has much to be proud ofBobK has much to be proud ofBobK has much to be proud ofBobK has much to be proud ofBobK has much to be proud ofBobK has much to be proud of
Default Re: chip away

(There's a missing 'at' in the original.)

Quote:
Every fresh terrorist attack chips away at the idea...
Explanation: there is an idea; each attack does not refute it entirely, but weakens it in a small but progressive way - it 'chips away at' it.

b
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Conditional with Modal Verbs jack Ask a Teacher 19 18-Dec-2004 02:59


New To Site? Need Help?

All times are GMT. The time now is 08:47.


vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.2.0
Copyright © 2002 - 2008 UsingEnglish.com