seeking a word

[NearThere]

Originally Posted by David L.

This is what I would say to a friend:
"Can you listen to this song for me. I can't catch what he's saying. What' s the word after, "It's too late to change the..". "Too late to change the"... 'what'?"

In your sentence:
"Hey, can you listen to it for me, 'cause it's hard to make out what the lyrics are?"

1. it should be 'lyric' because it is the words to one song, but we all talk about the 'lyrics' to a piece of music, the lyrics of a song.

We also say, "I didn't catch what he said" when you haven't heard properly what was said, because there was too much noise, or he mumbled etc.
'make out (somehting)/make (something) out also applies to be able to see something properly=correctly. For instance, when you're at the optomotrists having your eyes tested, you read the chart with letters on it, which go from large at the top, to small at the bottom. I might say to the optomotrist at some point, "I can't make out/can't tell whether it's an 'm' or an 'n' "(because it's too small and my eyes can't read it.)

Anyone get the joke???

Geez, you are a great man!. I asked for a slice, you gave me the whole pie. Where were teachers like you when I was in school.

Thanks for pointing out my misusing plurals, it's a problem I have among 2 dozen others when I speak/write English, to me there's a lot of grey areas in English. But who am I to say, I'm never detail-oriented. Hey, thanks again!

NT

[NearThere]

Originally Posted by susiedqq

to write down conversation or music lyrics is to transcribe, but you may be translating, also.

I apologize for this belated thank-you. I normaly don't have long enough time to stay on the forum to thank people where it's due. But thanks for the teaching. You guys are great!.

NT

[David L.]

I've enjoyed helping you. I'm not a teacher, so I'm doubly happy that I've been able to convey this information in a way that's easy to understand.

DL