the idiom "to promise (the sun and) the moon to someone"

Status
Not open for further replies.

David Czech

Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Czech
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Hello,

I would like to ask native speakers a question about an idiom I found in Isaac Bashevis Singer´s "The Riddle": "to promise the sun and the moon" ("He promised her the sun and the moon, her own theatre, a Hollywood role. What a bluffer!"), in The Free Dictionary (on-line) I often use when learning English (Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary) I see, however, just a shorter form "to promise the moon to someone" or "to promise someone the moon" (I don´t have, I confess, my "paper" dictionary of idioms at hand right now).

Does the longer form sound as natural as the shorter (and probably more common: judging just according to simple Google occurrances, not to corpora) one?

Thanks

David
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hello,

I would like to ask native speakers a question about an idiom I found in Isaac Bashevis Singer´s "The Riddle": "to promise the sun and the moon" ("He promised her the sun and the moon, her own theatre, a Hollywood role. What a bluffer!"), in The Free Dictionary (on-line) I often use when learning English (Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary) I see, however, just a shorter form "to promise the moon to someone" or "to promise someone the moon" (I don´t have, I confess, my "paper" dictionary of idioms at hand right now).

Does the longer form sound as natural as the shorter (and probably more common: judging just according to simple Google occurrances, not to corpora) one?

Thanks

David

Yes, it sounds fine to me. I have even heard "the sun, the moon, and the stars".
 

David Czech

Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Czech
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic
Hello Mike,

thank you very much for a useful reply!

David
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hello Mike,

thank you very much for a useful reply!

David

I appreciate your thanks, but the powers that be around here do not like thank yous posted as a new post. Just click on the like button in the bottom right hand corner.
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Just click on the like button in the bottom right hand corner.

That's right. The reason for this, David, is that it is flagged as a new post, so we think you might have a follow-up question or something to add. Those of us with slow internet connections and/or old computers have to waste valuable time waiting for it to appear.

Rover
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top