odd run

[user_gary]

The day belonged to the Lankan veterans as Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan did their bit with the ball earlier, and then Sanath Jayasuriya, displayed his characteristic aggressive batting to put the islanders in the drivers seat chasing a small total, before getting out for 64.

Kumar Sangakkara, meanwhile stayed till the end and score 69 odd runs to ensure Lanka victory.

Please explain the highlighted words.

[Noego]

Hello Calgary,

By the way, Calgary, I don't know whether or not you know about Google.com

I wanted an official definition of the idiom you mentioned earlier, so I typed:

driver's seat meaning

I got plenty of websites with really good explanations. Just letting you know in case you are not familiar with Google.

Here you go:

Driver's seat: (idiom)
"A position of control or authority."

Kumar Sangakkara, meanwhile stayed till the end and score 69 odd runs to ensure Lanka victory.

Ok, has quite a few usages. I'm not certain as to the exact meaning of "odd" in this context however. I'll leave this to other experts.

[Anglika]

The day belonged to the Lankan veterans as Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan did their bit with the ball earlier, and then Sanath Jayasuriya, displayed his characteristic aggressive batting to put the islanders in the drivers seat chasing a small total, before getting out for 64.

Kumar Sangakkara, meanwhile stayed till the end and score 69 odd runs to ensure Lanka victory.

Please explain the highlighted words.

"driver's seat" in this context it means that the batsmen did well enough to let their team win

69 odd runs = odd >3 [in combination] in the region of: fifty-odd years. A bad use as he either achieved 69 runs or he didn't. There can be do doubt about how many he scored.

[user_gary]

Hello Calgary,

By the way, Calgary, I don't know whether or not you know about Google.com

Though I don't know any syntax how to search in Google, I have been using Google for many years.

The problem with me is that I can't identify which one is (idiom/phrase/phrasal verbs)?

If I were searched for this particular idiom, I would have written `driver's seat' in the Google search box and it would have brought many unwanted things.

That does not mean I am always haven't searched in Google, I would search in Google for many words. Only if I didn't understand, I would start new thread in this forum.

[Noego]

Don't get me wrong, I just wanted to help you out in case you didn't know about google.

You're right though, Google isn't always easy to use.

Do you mean you don't understand the difference between phrase, phrasal verb and idiom?

If that's the case, I would be glad to explain it to you.

[user_gary]

Do you mean you don't understand the difference between phrase, phrasal verb and idiom?
If that's the case, I would be glad to explain it to you.

Thank you.
I will be glad, if you help me.

[Noego]

Ok, let's take this step by step.

First of all, a definition for phrase. This is from one of my grammar book, Cliffs Quick Review:

"A phrase is a group of words that act as a part of speech but cannot stand alone as a sentence."

Look at the following sentence:

"The woman in the trench coat pulled out her cellular phone."

Now in the above sentence, "in the trench coat" is a phrase that has the same function as an adjective as it describes the noun woman.

"in the trench" coat couldn't stand alone as a clause or as a sentence as it has no subject-predicate.

A phrasal verb is actually even easier to understand.

Once again, a definition. This time it comes from the grammar glossary found on his website:

"Phrasal verbs are idiomatic expressions, combining verbs and prepositions to make new verbs whose meaning is often not obvious from the dictionary definitions of the individual words. They are widely used in both written and spoken English, and new ones are formed all the time as they are a flexible way of creating new terms."

Take the following verb:

To beat:

"If you beat someone or something, you hit them very hard."
Now if you add the preposition "down" to the verb "beat", you have a different meaning! This is called a phrasal verb because it's a verbal expression
consisting of a few words.

To beat down:

"The sun was beating down on us as we crossed the desert."

"Beating down" here means that the sunshine was very strong as they crossed the desert. Of course it doesn't mean the sun hit them physically

"Beat down" only has its specific meaning if taken as a unit. It loses its meaning if "beat" and "down" are taken as two separate, unrelated units.

Finally, the idiom.

Definition, from Collins CoBuild:

"An idiom is a group of words which have a different meaning when used together from the one they would have if you took the meaning of each word separately. "

Take the following sentence for example:

"He grabbed the bull by the horns."

This is an expression that express an idea. It shouldn't be taken literally.

Idioms may or may not contain phrasal verbs.

"This song drives me up the wall."

In this idiom (when something drives you the up wall, it really annoys you), there's the phrasal verb "drive up".

Hope this helps.