Re: Weekly Vocab #1.1.2 (repost #1)

>Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote:
> - snap at, v. bite off with a quick bite; "The dog snapped off a
> piece of cloth from the intruder's pants"
You don't seem to understand these two verbs the way I do.  "Snap
at" and "snap off" are not synonymous.

"Snap at" means to speak sharply or abruptly.  "He snapped at her
when she mentioned the accident."  There is no physical contact
denoted.

"Snap off" means to break with a snapping sound.  It implies
something brittle, like a twig or a cracker.  Cloth cannot be
snapped off.  "She snapped off a piece of the cracker (not the
bread) for the baby."

IMO, the sentence should read "The dog tore off (ripped off) a piece
of cloth from the intruder's pants."

And again, IMO, I would not have used the adverb "off," but that's
just a stylistic point.  I see it as redundant with "from."  "The
dog tore a piece of cloth from the intruder's pants."

My 4¢.  Inflation, you know!

Charlie
http://wiki.frath.net/senjecas

Reply