[General] three synonymous expressions

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you tell me whether the following three expressions have a synonymous 100 % equivalent interpretation?

It is pouring wet.
It is pouring with rain.
The rain is falling in torrents.

V.

 

[SoothingDave]

"Pouring wet" is not an expression.

It is pouring "down" rain, not "with" rain.

Your third sentence is OK.

 

[vil]

There are following 100 % equivalent expression in my books:

It is pouring with rain.
It is raining in buckets.
The rain comes down in sheets.
The rain comes down in showers.
It's raining cats and dogs.
It's raining ducks and drakes.
It's rain pitchforks.

How much rain would fall in a torrential downpour? Quite alot of rain. It
would be pouring with rain!!!!! . Does the rain or do the rain which is ...

Read more: http://www.answers.com/It+is+pouring+with+rain.?afid=TBarLookup&nafid=27#ixzz1OtA37SFC
​

V.

 

[BobK]

:-| If you're 100% sure, why ask? (You're wrong, by the way. But I'm not sure you're interested in why.)

b

 

[vil]

It takes a lazy man to find the easiest way out.

 

[birdeen's call]

:-| If you're 100% sure, why ask? (You're wrong, by the way. But I'm not sure you're interested in why.)

b

I'm interested. Could you say where vil is wrong? Do you mean "raining in buckets" which should be "raining buckets"?

 

[SoothingDave]

"Pouring with rain" is not an expression.

"Raining in buckets" is not an expression, as you noted.

"It's rain pitchforks." is not grammatical.

 

[5jj]

It would be pouring with rain!!!!!

Even that number of exclamation marks doesn't make it a normal English expression.

 

[birdeen's call]

I think this is the link vil had in mind: Answers.com - How much rain would fall in a torrential downpour

Is it a mistake?

 

[5jj]

I think this is the link vil had in mind: Answers.com - How much rain would fall in a torrential downpour

Is it a mistake?

I wouldn't call it a mistake, but it's not what most native speakers would say.

 

[BobK]

I'm interested. Could you say where vil is wrong? Do you mean "raining in buckets" which should be "raining buckets"?

A shower is not torrential. I've never met the expression 'coming down in showers', but if I did, I'd expect the present continuous - not 'The rain comes down in showers'. The same goes for sheets (re aspect, that is); but when rain is 'sheeting down' (which I have heard) it is not a shower.

Rain doesn't, in my experience, come down 'in buckets', although it does 'bucket down', and 'come down in bucketfuls'.

I've never met the 'pitchfork' one, which as someone else has pointed out is ungrammatical.

But generally I don't see the point in talking about '100% synonymy'. A word is or is not le mot juste, and you choose the right one - even if, as in that case, it involves using another language. The only role in which the word 'synonym' is useful is when it refers to an approximate equivalence that cannot meaningfully approximate to 100%; or any other percentage for that matter.

b

 

[vil]

Here is an evil that cries for remedy.

Your humiliating provocative manner gives rise to doubt only.

pour with rain
to rain heavily. (Said of the sky, day, morning, night, the weather, etc.)


The sky was pouring with rain and the sun never shone from dawn to dusk. It poured with rain the entire night.

pour with rain - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

V.

 

[5jj]

Here is an evil that cries out for remedy.

5

 

[vil]

That’s the high of impudence to thinks yourself a genius and to be at variance with The Free Dictionary.

pour with rain - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

Here is the excerpt from an English book where I came upon the expression in question.

"You have arranged with your friend, Mike, to go out for a picnic. But it is pouring with rain."

In my humble opinion "expression = a word or group of words forming a unit and conveying meaning" so "pouring with rain" is obvious an expression.

V.

 

[Tdol]

Closing thread