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ALTER and ADJUST | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 4827 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes  Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 9 of 13 14 May 2013 at 10:46am | IP Logged | ||
Serpent has really hit the nail on the head! The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary says: Alter or change? Change has a much wider range and many particular collocations such as change your mind/name, change colour/tack and change the subject. Change often suggests a complete change; alter can suggest a smaller change Alter is often used when sth has changed only slightly or not at all IMHO, adjust would suggest an even smaller change. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| babeltower Newbie Vietnam Joined 4024 days ago 3 posts - 4 votes Studies: English | Message 10 of 13 15 May 2013 at 12:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Based on things I wrote
"I took my shirt back to the shop to have it altered ". This form can be found in Advanced Cambridge Dictionary. Since that, I think it is correct academically and not wrong. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| patrickwilken Senior Member Germany radiant-flux.net Joined 4344 days ago 1546 posts - 3200 votes Studies: German | Message 11 of 13 15 May 2013 at 1:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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If "I adjust the signal on the TV during the football match" I am presumably trying to make the signal clearer.
If "I alter the signal on the TV during the football match" I may be changing the channel to something else, though I could be modulating it. Alter implies change (though the change could result in a modification); Adjust implies modification/modulation. So if I adjust my relationship with my girlfriend, it implies that I still have a relationship with her, but it's changed in someway. If I alter it, it could imply that we've broken up. Edited by patrickwilken on 15 May 2013 at 1:14pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6408 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 12 of 13 15 May 2013 at 9:23pm | IP Logged | ||
Edited by Serpent on 15 May 2013 at 9:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5073 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 13 of 13 15 May 2013 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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With all due respect, and tarvos' level of English is as close to native as you can get; he's wrong on this one. He did leave North America when he was quite young, well before he probably would have ever had the need to take a shirt or a pair of pants/trousers to a seamstress or tailor in order to have the article of clothing "altered".
As a lifelong native speaker of English, and someone who has bought clothing that has needed to be altered, I can speak with some authority on this subject. Again, no offense meant to tarvos. I always appreciate his contributions. Here are some real world examples: How to Alter Clothes from the US. From Australia- Alter It and lastly, from England Alter Sheffield- Clothing Alterations and Repairs. Edited by iguanamon on 15 May 2013 at 11:02pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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