English is his second language [on hold]
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A korean immigrant asked me to explain the phrase "Makes no sense." I don't think my explaination made any sense to him. How would you explain it to an ESL person?
phrases
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user325213
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put on hold as unclear what you're asking by FumbleFingers, Eilia, Skooba, curiousdannii, choster yesterday
Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
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A korean immigrant asked me to explain the phrase "Makes no sense." I don't think my explaination made any sense to him. How would you explain it to an ESL person?
phrases
asked yesterday
user325213
61
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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put on hold as unclear what you're asking by FumbleFingers, Eilia, Skooba, curiousdannii, choster yesterday
Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
The implied but unspecified "subject" is it, that, this - usually referring to something someone else has just said or done, but it could be virtaully anything that's contextually obvious. Obviously, we have no context here, so this question itself doesn't really make sense.
– FumbleFingers
yesterday
You could try in Korean to explain that another way to see this is as "makes nonsense" but we use "makes no sense" as better grammar and that's how some times or is it "sometimes how" nonsensical English grammar can be.
– KJO
yesterday
The lack of clarity is the single brief example i.e. can he grasp "makes no cakes", "makes no trouble" or is it the concept of "words make no sense" unlike ears which do have a sense. What/which is causing a cultural difference in translation ?
– KJO
yesterday
add a comment |
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A korean immigrant asked me to explain the phrase "Makes no sense." I don't think my explaination made any sense to him. How would you explain it to an ESL person?
phrases
asked yesterday
user325213
61
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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A korean immigrant asked me to explain the phrase "Makes no sense." I don't think my explaination made any sense to him. How would you explain it to an ESL person?
phrases
phrases
asked yesterday
user325213
61
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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asked yesterday
user325213
61
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked yesterday
user325213
61
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked yesterday
user325213
61
asked yesterday
user325213
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61
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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user325213 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
put on hold as unclear what you're asking by FumbleFingers, Eilia, Skooba, curiousdannii, choster yesterday
Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
put on hold as unclear what you're asking by FumbleFingers, Eilia, Skooba, curiousdannii, choster yesterday
Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
The implied but unspecified "subject" is it, that, this - usually referring to something someone else has just said or done, but it could be virtaully anything that's contextually obvious. Obviously, we have no context here, so this question itself doesn't really make sense.
– FumbleFingers
yesterday
You could try in Korean to explain that another way to see this is as "makes nonsense" but we use "makes no sense" as better grammar and that's how some times or is it "sometimes how" nonsensical English grammar can be.
– KJO
yesterday
The lack of clarity is the single brief example i.e. can he grasp "makes no cakes", "makes no trouble" or is it the concept of "words make no sense" unlike ears which do have a sense. What/which is causing a cultural difference in translation ?
– KJO
yesterday
add a comment |
The implied but unspecified "subject" is it, that, this - usually referring to something someone else has just said or done, but it could be virtaully anything that's contextually obvious. Obviously, we have no context here, so this question itself doesn't really make sense.
– FumbleFingers
yesterday
You could try in Korean to explain that another way to see this is as "makes nonsense" but we use "makes no sense" as better grammar and that's how some times or is it "sometimes how" nonsensical English grammar can be.
– KJO
yesterday
The lack of clarity is the single brief example i.e. can he grasp "makes no cakes", "makes no trouble" or is it the concept of "words make no sense" unlike ears which do have a sense. What/which is causing a cultural difference in translation ?
– KJO
yesterday
The implied but unspecified "subject" is it, that, this - usually referring to something someone else has just said or done, but it could be virtaully anything that's contextually obvious. Obviously, we have no context here, so this question itself doesn't really make sense.
– FumbleFingers
yesterday
The implied but unspecified "subject" is it, that, this - usually referring to something someone else has just said or done, but it could be virtaully anything that's contextually obvious. Obviously, we have no context here, so this question itself doesn't really make sense.
– FumbleFingers
yesterday
You could try in Korean to explain that another way to see this is as "makes nonsense" but we use "makes no sense" as better grammar and that's how some times or is it "sometimes how" nonsensical English grammar can be.
– KJO
yesterday
You could try in Korean to explain that another way to see this is as "makes nonsense" but we use "makes no sense" as better grammar and that's how some times or is it "sometimes how" nonsensical English grammar can be.
– KJO
yesterday
The lack of clarity is the single brief example i.e. can he grasp "makes no cakes", "makes no trouble" or is it the concept of "words make no sense" unlike ears which do have a sense. What/which is causing a cultural difference in translation ?
– KJO
yesterday
The lack of clarity is the single brief example i.e. can he grasp "makes no cakes", "makes no trouble" or is it the concept of "words make no sense" unlike ears which do have a sense. What/which is causing a cultural difference in translation ?
– KJO
yesterday
add a comment |
2 Answers
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0
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According to Merriam-Webster: make sense is an
idiom which is defined as:
1: to have a clear meaning : to be easy to understand
We read the recommendations and thought they made (perfect) sense.The instructions don't make any sense (at all).The instructions make no sense (at all).
You're not making much sense (to me).
2: to be reasonableIt makes sense to leave early to avoid traffic.
It makes little/no sense to continue.
Why would he do such an awful thing? It makes no sense (to me).
I think you should explain this idiom /makes no sense/ like: 'it is difficult to understand'.
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
I think there are two related, but slightly different meanings that you should convey to your Korean friend:
-1: To be coherent. You would use this when referring to a story or an explanation. An example you could use is:
Police officer 1: Do you believe this man's story, colleague?
Police officer 2: Absolutely not, his explanation does not make sense.
-2: To be logical or reasonable, which you can use to relate the actions someone has undertaken to the intended outcome of those actions. Example:
Since he wants to pursue a career in academia, his choice for a PhD makes sense.
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
It is the NO that makes NO sense, the questioner is a teacher who is asking how to convey the sense of negativity in making, how do you convey not making something
– KJO
yesterday
I welcome any suggested changes or improvements to my answer. If I understand your comment correctly (which, admittedly, was difficult), your interpretation of the original post is that it is the negation that was hard to explain. I think it is far more likely that the difficulty was in explaining the meaning of the idiom 'making sense', regardless of whether it includes a negation or not.
– Floris SA
12 hours ago
Hi Floris as per my comments to questioner there are a lot of unknowns in the 3 little words transliterating into anothers thoughts Makes (constructs) no [sic] sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) ----- It will never make sense in any other persons language --- trying to pair "makes no" = + then - does not make sense --- pairing "no sense" when sense is in your word logical still going to lead to confusion in the student as how can makes no logical be logical
– KJO
11 hours ago
Alright, I think I understand what you are getting at now. I understood the OP wants to explain the meaning of 'Makes no sense' to their student, but the question could also be interpreted as 'why is the idiom "makes no sense" structured the way it is'. Is that what you are getting at? Your lack of interpunction and the abundant use of the idiom 'makes (no) sense' in your writing makes your comments very confusing to me, apologies.
– Floris SA
10 hours ago
No apologies needed, I am making less sense as time goes by :-)
– KJO
10 hours ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
According to Merriam-Webster: make sense is an
idiom which is defined as:
1: to have a clear meaning : to be easy to understand
We read the recommendations and thought they made (perfect) sense.The instructions don't make any sense (at all).The instructions make no sense (at all).
You're not making much sense (to me).
2: to be reasonableIt makes sense to leave early to avoid traffic.
It makes little/no sense to continue.
Why would he do such an awful thing? It makes no sense (to me).
I think you should explain this idiom /makes no sense/ like: 'it is difficult to understand'.
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
According to Merriam-Webster: make sense is an
idiom which is defined as:
1: to have a clear meaning : to be easy to understand
We read the recommendations and thought they made (perfect) sense.The instructions don't make any sense (at all).The instructions make no sense (at all).
You're not making much sense (to me).
2: to be reasonableIt makes sense to leave early to avoid traffic.
It makes little/no sense to continue.
Why would he do such an awful thing? It makes no sense (to me).
I think you should explain this idiom /makes no sense/ like: 'it is difficult to understand'.
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
According to Merriam-Webster: make sense is an
idiom which is defined as:
1: to have a clear meaning : to be easy to understand
We read the recommendations and thought they made (perfect) sense.The instructions don't make any sense (at all).The instructions make no sense (at all).
You're not making much sense (to me).
2: to be reasonableIt makes sense to leave early to avoid traffic.
It makes little/no sense to continue.
Why would he do such an awful thing? It makes no sense (to me).
I think you should explain this idiom /makes no sense/ like: 'it is difficult to understand'.
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
According to Merriam-Webster: make sense is an
idiom which is defined as:
1: to have a clear meaning : to be easy to understand
We read the recommendations and thought they made (perfect) sense.The instructions don't make any sense (at all).The instructions make no sense (at all).
You're not making much sense (to me).
2: to be reasonableIt makes sense to leave early to avoid traffic.
It makes little/no sense to continue.
Why would he do such an awful thing? It makes no sense (to me).
I think you should explain this idiom /makes no sense/ like: 'it is difficult to understand'.
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
edited yesterday
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
answered yesterday
user307254
25515
25515
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
I think there are two related, but slightly different meanings that you should convey to your Korean friend:
-1: To be coherent. You would use this when referring to a story or an explanation. An example you could use is:
Police officer 1: Do you believe this man's story, colleague?
Police officer 2: Absolutely not, his explanation does not make sense.
-2: To be logical or reasonable, which you can use to relate the actions someone has undertaken to the intended outcome of those actions. Example:
Since he wants to pursue a career in academia, his choice for a PhD makes sense.
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
It is the NO that makes NO sense, the questioner is a teacher who is asking how to convey the sense of negativity in making, how do you convey not making something
– KJO
yesterday
I welcome any suggested changes or improvements to my answer. If I understand your comment correctly (which, admittedly, was difficult), your interpretation of the original post is that it is the negation that was hard to explain. I think it is far more likely that the difficulty was in explaining the meaning of the idiom 'making sense', regardless of whether it includes a negation or not.
– Floris SA
12 hours ago
Hi Floris as per my comments to questioner there are a lot of unknowns in the 3 little words transliterating into anothers thoughts Makes (constructs) no [sic] sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) ----- It will never make sense in any other persons language --- trying to pair "makes no" = + then - does not make sense --- pairing "no sense" when sense is in your word logical still going to lead to confusion in the student as how can makes no logical be logical
– KJO
11 hours ago
Alright, I think I understand what you are getting at now. I understood the OP wants to explain the meaning of 'Makes no sense' to their student, but the question could also be interpreted as 'why is the idiom "makes no sense" structured the way it is'. Is that what you are getting at? Your lack of interpunction and the abundant use of the idiom 'makes (no) sense' in your writing makes your comments very confusing to me, apologies.
– Floris SA
10 hours ago
No apologies needed, I am making less sense as time goes by :-)
– KJO
10 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
I think there are two related, but slightly different meanings that you should convey to your Korean friend:
-1: To be coherent. You would use this when referring to a story or an explanation. An example you could use is:
Police officer 1: Do you believe this man's story, colleague?
Police officer 2: Absolutely not, his explanation does not make sense.
-2: To be logical or reasonable, which you can use to relate the actions someone has undertaken to the intended outcome of those actions. Example:
Since he wants to pursue a career in academia, his choice for a PhD makes sense.
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
It is the NO that makes NO sense, the questioner is a teacher who is asking how to convey the sense of negativity in making, how do you convey not making something
– KJO
yesterday
I welcome any suggested changes or improvements to my answer. If I understand your comment correctly (which, admittedly, was difficult), your interpretation of the original post is that it is the negation that was hard to explain. I think it is far more likely that the difficulty was in explaining the meaning of the idiom 'making sense', regardless of whether it includes a negation or not.
– Floris SA
12 hours ago
Hi Floris as per my comments to questioner there are a lot of unknowns in the 3 little words transliterating into anothers thoughts Makes (constructs) no [sic] sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) ----- It will never make sense in any other persons language --- trying to pair "makes no" = + then - does not make sense --- pairing "no sense" when sense is in your word logical still going to lead to confusion in the student as how can makes no logical be logical
– KJO
11 hours ago
Alright, I think I understand what you are getting at now. I understood the OP wants to explain the meaning of 'Makes no sense' to their student, but the question could also be interpreted as 'why is the idiom "makes no sense" structured the way it is'. Is that what you are getting at? Your lack of interpunction and the abundant use of the idiom 'makes (no) sense' in your writing makes your comments very confusing to me, apologies.
– Floris SA
10 hours ago
No apologies needed, I am making less sense as time goes by :-)
– KJO
10 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
-1
down vote
up vote
-1
down vote
I think there are two related, but slightly different meanings that you should convey to your Korean friend:
-1: To be coherent. You would use this when referring to a story or an explanation. An example you could use is:
Police officer 1: Do you believe this man's story, colleague?
Police officer 2: Absolutely not, his explanation does not make sense.
-2: To be logical or reasonable, which you can use to relate the actions someone has undertaken to the intended outcome of those actions. Example:
Since he wants to pursue a career in academia, his choice for a PhD makes sense.
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I think there are two related, but slightly different meanings that you should convey to your Korean friend:
-1: To be coherent. You would use this when referring to a story or an explanation. An example you could use is:
Police officer 1: Do you believe this man's story, colleague?
Police officer 2: Absolutely not, his explanation does not make sense.
-2: To be logical or reasonable, which you can use to relate the actions someone has undertaken to the intended outcome of those actions. Example:
Since he wants to pursue a career in academia, his choice for a PhD makes sense.
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
answered yesterday
Floris SA
992
992
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Floris SA is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
It is the NO that makes NO sense, the questioner is a teacher who is asking how to convey the sense of negativity in making, how do you convey not making something
– KJO
yesterday
I welcome any suggested changes or improvements to my answer. If I understand your comment correctly (which, admittedly, was difficult), your interpretation of the original post is that it is the negation that was hard to explain. I think it is far more likely that the difficulty was in explaining the meaning of the idiom 'making sense', regardless of whether it includes a negation or not.
– Floris SA
12 hours ago
Hi Floris as per my comments to questioner there are a lot of unknowns in the 3 little words transliterating into anothers thoughts Makes (constructs) no [sic] sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) ----- It will never make sense in any other persons language --- trying to pair "makes no" = + then - does not make sense --- pairing "no sense" when sense is in your word logical still going to lead to confusion in the student as how can makes no logical be logical
– KJO
11 hours ago
Alright, I think I understand what you are getting at now. I understood the OP wants to explain the meaning of 'Makes no sense' to their student, but the question could also be interpreted as 'why is the idiom "makes no sense" structured the way it is'. Is that what you are getting at? Your lack of interpunction and the abundant use of the idiom 'makes (no) sense' in your writing makes your comments very confusing to me, apologies.
– Floris SA
10 hours ago
No apologies needed, I am making less sense as time goes by :-)
– KJO
10 hours ago
add a comment |
It is the NO that makes NO sense, the questioner is a teacher who is asking how to convey the sense of negativity in making, how do you convey not making something
– KJO
yesterday
I welcome any suggested changes or improvements to my answer. If I understand your comment correctly (which, admittedly, was difficult), your interpretation of the original post is that it is the negation that was hard to explain. I think it is far more likely that the difficulty was in explaining the meaning of the idiom 'making sense', regardless of whether it includes a negation or not.
– Floris SA
12 hours ago
Hi Floris as per my comments to questioner there are a lot of unknowns in the 3 little words transliterating into anothers thoughts Makes (constructs) no [sic] sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) ----- It will never make sense in any other persons language --- trying to pair "makes no" = + then - does not make sense --- pairing "no sense" when sense is in your word logical still going to lead to confusion in the student as how can makes no logical be logical
– KJO
11 hours ago
Alright, I think I understand what you are getting at now. I understood the OP wants to explain the meaning of 'Makes no sense' to their student, but the question could also be interpreted as 'why is the idiom "makes no sense" structured the way it is'. Is that what you are getting at? Your lack of interpunction and the abundant use of the idiom 'makes (no) sense' in your writing makes your comments very confusing to me, apologies.
– Floris SA
10 hours ago
No apologies needed, I am making less sense as time goes by :-)
– KJO
10 hours ago
It is the NO that makes NO sense, the questioner is a teacher who is asking how to convey the sense of negativity in making, how do you convey not making something
– KJO
yesterday
It is the NO that makes NO sense, the questioner is a teacher who is asking how to convey the sense of negativity in making, how do you convey not making something
– KJO
yesterday
I welcome any suggested changes or improvements to my answer. If I understand your comment correctly (which, admittedly, was difficult), your interpretation of the original post is that it is the negation that was hard to explain. I think it is far more likely that the difficulty was in explaining the meaning of the idiom 'making sense', regardless of whether it includes a negation or not.
– Floris SA
12 hours ago
I welcome any suggested changes or improvements to my answer. If I understand your comment correctly (which, admittedly, was difficult), your interpretation of the original post is that it is the negation that was hard to explain. I think it is far more likely that the difficulty was in explaining the meaning of the idiom 'making sense', regardless of whether it includes a negation or not.
– Floris SA
12 hours ago
Hi Floris as per my comments to questioner there are a lot of unknowns in the 3 little words transliterating into anothers thoughts Makes (constructs) no [sic] sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) ----- It will never make sense in any other persons language --- trying to pair "makes no" = + then - does not make sense --- pairing "no sense" when sense is in your word logical still going to lead to confusion in the student as how can makes no logical be logical
– KJO
11 hours ago
Hi Floris as per my comments to questioner there are a lot of unknowns in the 3 little words transliterating into anothers thoughts Makes (constructs) no [sic] sense (sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) ----- It will never make sense in any other persons language --- trying to pair "makes no" = + then - does not make sense --- pairing "no sense" when sense is in your word logical still going to lead to confusion in the student as how can makes no logical be logical
– KJO
11 hours ago
Alright, I think I understand what you are getting at now. I understood the OP wants to explain the meaning of 'Makes no sense' to their student, but the question could also be interpreted as 'why is the idiom "makes no sense" structured the way it is'. Is that what you are getting at? Your lack of interpunction and the abundant use of the idiom 'makes (no) sense' in your writing makes your comments very confusing to me, apologies.
– Floris SA
10 hours ago
Alright, I think I understand what you are getting at now. I understood the OP wants to explain the meaning of 'Makes no sense' to their student, but the question could also be interpreted as 'why is the idiom "makes no sense" structured the way it is'. Is that what you are getting at? Your lack of interpunction and the abundant use of the idiom 'makes (no) sense' in your writing makes your comments very confusing to me, apologies.
– Floris SA
10 hours ago
No apologies needed, I am making less sense as time goes by :-)
– KJO
10 hours ago
No apologies needed, I am making less sense as time goes by :-)
– KJO
10 hours ago
add a comment |
The implied but unspecified "subject" is it, that, this - usually referring to something someone else has just said or done, but it could be virtaully anything that's contextually obvious. Obviously, we have no context here, so this question itself doesn't really make sense.
– FumbleFingers
yesterday
You could try in Korean to explain that another way to see this is as "makes nonsense" but we use "makes no sense" as better grammar and that's how some times or is it "sometimes how" nonsensical English grammar can be.
– KJO
yesterday
The lack of clarity is the single brief example i.e. can he grasp "makes no cakes", "makes no trouble" or is it the concept of "words make no sense" unlike ears which do have a sense. What/which is causing a cultural difference in translation ?
– KJO
yesterday