Hi,
Recently I am more and more interested in some special English expressions which are very short but rich in meaning. The first is the “preposition + (my, your, their, etc.) + nouns.” Haha It’s just my way of describing the expressions like “to your aid” “at their orders” “to my detriment” “at your own risk” “to my surprise” etc.
You can say “The boy had gone at his parents’ orders to leave the old man’s boat and go to another lucky boat,” not “His parents was very angry, forcing him to leave the old man’s boat. The boy had to obey their orders …” Or you can say “He came back to my surprise,” not “He came back, which surprised me a lot” I make up these examples. I mean this kind of expression enables us to write very succinctly.
The second is “for + noun,” for example: “for kindness” “for meanness” “for honor” “for eternity” etc
“They believed that their souls would be condemned to burn in hell for eternity.”
“The old man hit the fish on the head for kindness and kicked him, the fish’s body still shuddering, under the shade of the stern.”
“He said he was not taking his friend’s mouse away for meanness” etc.
Do you know other expressions of these kinds? Could you please kindly share them here, so that non-native English speakers like me can memorize them, and use them when needed? I think learning those expressions would be a good way for nonnative speakers improve their writing
Thanks in advance.