Everyday phrases for communication — Post 24
Read post 23 here
Today’s mini-dialogue:
— Do you mean to tell me he did it on purpose?
— That’s my hunch.
What you need to remember:
- The verb MEAN (often with TO) can mean ‘to want, to plan, to have an intention’.
For example, it’s often used for apologising:
— I didn’t mean to hurt you. (=I didn’t want to offend you)
— I didn’t mean to. (=It was an accident)
Other examples:
— I meant to call you earlier, but forgot.
— I’m not suggesting for a minute that she meant to cause a lot of trouble.
This meaning is also used in the structure BE MEANT TO — be expected, planned to happen (often by fate or higher powers)
— We are meant to be together. (=it’s decided by fate)
— This was not meant to happen. (=This was not the plan)
2. When you want to say that somebody is doing something with an intention (often to hurt you or do harm), you can’t use specially in this context. Instead, use the following phrases:
on purpose
intentionally
deliberately
They all mean that something was planned beforehand, often with a bad intention.
If you want to say that something was not planned and you didn’t mean to cause harm, use:
not on purpose
by accident
It was an accident.
— Did you break the vase on purpose? — No, it was an accident.
3. HUNCH — it’s some feeling or a guess you believe in, even if it’s not confirmed by the facts yet.
You can meet the expression Just a hunch. = Just a feeling. (this is what my intuition tells me) It’s also possible 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 — to do something based on intuition.
— I have a hunch it will work. (=I have a feeling…)
— I phoned on a hunch to ask if they had any work for me.
Today we have learnt about a very important meaning of the verb MEAN, and also learnt a few set expressions about intentions and intuition.
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My name is Daria Storozhilova and this is a series of mini-lessons teaching you helpful phrases and spoken expressions for communicating in English.
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