This blog is intented to help Germans improve on the finer points of English. Hopefully Germans who read this will reciprocate for us poor Yankees learning German.
Monday, 13 February 2012
Let me precise my point...
In English, precise is an adjective, not a verb. It is incorrect to say "Can you precise your statement?". One might say "Can you be more precise." or "Can you make a more precise statement".
2 comments:
I'm wondering ... is this usage a literal translation from a German "false friend"? French speakers sometimes make the same mistake, and I believe it's because they are thinking of the French verb "préciser". That is most often translated into English as "specify".
But you CAN say 'can you precis your statement?' which means something quite different.
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