Anaalvarez
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What are the meanings of "lest", and different uses of this word?.
I don't understand why tests should feature a word that is so rarely used in modern English. I cannot imagine any native speaker saying that, except in a period drama or a comic sketch.@birdeen's call: I came across this word daily in my tests. It is usually followed by should.
Example: Let's hail a taxi lest we should miss the train.
I don't understand why tests should feature a word that is so rarely used in modern English. I cannot imagine any native speaker saying that, except in a period drama or a comic sketch.
My objection to so + adjective + article + noun is not so strong as my objection to lest we should - I may even use the former construction myself, but it seems pretty pointless in most tests. What are these tests?Same here, fivejedjon. In almost every test there is minimum one question involving lest. The tests also include things like so + adjective + article + noun (so exotic a place), which, personally, I have never heard (movies, TV shows, forums, articles, books etc.).
My objection to so + adjective + article + noun is not so strong as my objection to lest we should - I may even use the former construction myself, but it seems pretty pointless in most tests. What are these tests?
I will post its position on this list:I don't understand why tests should feature a word that is so rarely used in modern English.
I think if you will be OK if you quote the position on the list, and then add, changing the date if necessary:if someone tells me it's legal. I guess it is, but I'd like to be sure. If it's not, you can find out yourself.
OK, it's in the quote box then. The position is 13 934. Note however that the list has words like "xbrizoides", "davies", "csikszentmihalyi" and that some words appear several times when they're interpreted as different parts of speech. Also "have", "has" and "had" are different words here.I think if you will be OK if you quote the position on the list, and then add, changing the date if necessary:
Davies, Mark. (2011) Word frequency data from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Downloaded from Corpus-based word frequency lists, collocates, and n-grams on April 06, 2011.
The mind boggles. I'd be very surprised if the average English, American, Australian, etc police officer would recognise a 'lest' if it jaywalked in front of him/her. Why a Romanian police officer should be expected to deal with this is beyond my ken.They are grammar tests for admission to Police Academy,...
I think that says it all.The position is 13 934.
I'd say that it says that it's a word that is used sometimes, but not often. Take a look at some of the word's neighbours:I think that says it all.
At least you seem to know what lemmas are.PS: I'm feeling quite uncertain about the way I'm using the data. I'd better stop.
The mind boggles. I'd be very surprised if the average English, American, Australian, etc police officer would recognise a 'lest' if it jaywalked in front of him/her. Why a Romanian police officer should be expected to deal with this is beyond my ken.
@ SirGod,
Is there an approximate equivalent in Romanian of 'lest' that is commonly used in the language? If there is, it would explain, but not justify, why 'lest' appears in the tests so frequently.
They are grammar tests for admission to Police Academy, Foreign Languages and ASE (one of our universities). And the book includes things like "lest... should" because it is highly possible to see them in your exam paper.
It sounds as if they're using a very traditional syllabus- it strikes me as a rather bizarre item to test for admission to a Police Academy as it's a rare and very formal word.
Thank you all of you for your answers. I had never heard before this word, but it appears in an article in The Washington Post, taking about American Stars endorse some products.What are the meanings of "lest", and different uses of this word?.