In winter

[Stejar33]

Can I say: ‘It is cold in winter’ or is it better to say “The weather is cold in winter”?
Thank you!

[Alan]

Both are fine.

[Canadian45]

@Stejar33

Can I say ‘It is cold in winter[color=blue].’ [color=blue]yes or is it better to say “The weather is cold in winter[color=blue].”? [color=blue]No, that is not a natural sentence. [color=blue]And weather involves more than just temperature.
Thank you!

[color=blue]Notice that I removed the colon after the first “say”. There is absolutely no need for a colon there.

[Torsten]

Canadian, what is wrong with ‘The weather is cold in winter’?

TOEIC listening, photographs: An electrician

[Canadian45]

@Torsten

Canadian, what is wrong with ‘The weather is cold in winter[color=blue].’? [color=blue]In my opinion, it just is a very awkward sentence compared to ‘It is cold in winter.’ And again, ‘weather’ is more than just temperature.
In winter, (the weather)(it) is cold, windy, and humid. In winter it is cold.

TOEIC listening, photographs: An electrician

[Torsten]

I see what you mean. I, too, used to think that the following combinations are wrong:
cold temperatures (In my opinion, temperatures can only be low.)
cold weather (In my opinion, the weather itself can’t be cold.)

However, both phrases are commonly used in standard mass media – just google them and you will see that they are perfectly acceptable no matter what both of us think ;-)[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: A man standing on a platform[YSaerTTEW443543]

[Canadian45]

@Torsten

I see what you mean.
However, both phrases are commonly used in standard mass media [color=blue]First of all, the mass media has many examples of sloppy and questionable English.

just google them and you will see that they are perfectly acceptable no matter what both of us think [color=blue]But the question is whether they are really acceptable or are just common. So it comes down to each of us having to decide what kind of English we want to speak. Do we want to speak common and often lower-level English, or do we want to speak more logical, correct, and elegant English.

“The weather is cold.” kind of English is not something that I am willing to accept as logically correct English and I don’t support it.
Finally, we are trying to help students speak good English. And again, it is up to them to decide how ‘correct’ they want their English to be. (realizing of course that they are just trying to learn the language) My inclination is to steer them toward logically correct and otherwise correct standard English, while knowing that I have only limited influence on them and realizing that they are a diverse group.

So all of us have to decide if we want to go with the crowd or decide to try to achieve a higher level of English.

TOEIC listening, photographs: A man standing on a platform

[Beeesneees]

@Torsten

I see what you mean. I, too, used to think that the following combinations are wrong:
cold temperatures (In my opinion, temperatures can only be low.)
cold weather (In my opinion, the weather itself can’t be cold.)

However, both phrases are commonly used in standard mass media – just google them and you will see that they are perfectly acceptable no matter what both of us think

I’m with Canadian on this one. Although the term in question is widespread in its use, it just seems careless.

Of course, I’m the sort of person who cannot accept ‘We’ll give it to you for free!’ either - regardless of how widespread it’s become.

[Stejar33]

Thank you very much for all your replies. They are very helpful.
Then I’ll stick to “It is cold in winter”.
Since this topic concerns weather, can you please tell me if the following sentence is correct?
“What season are you now?”
Or should I say:
“What season are you in now?”.
Thank you so much.

[Beeesneees]

‘What season are you in now?’
‘What season is it there?’ (there=where you are)

[Torsten]

@Canadian45

@Torsten

“The weather is cold.” kind of English is not something that I am willing to accept as logically correct English and I don’t support it.
Finally, we are trying to help students speak good English. And again, it is up to them to decide how ‘correct’ they want their English to be. (realizing of course that they are just trying to learn the language) My inclination is to steer them toward logically correct and otherwise correct standard English, while knowing that I have only limited influence on them and realizing that they are a diverse group.

So all of us have to decide if we want to go with the crowd or decide to try to achieve a higher level of English.

So based on your assessment news agencies/outlets such as Reuters, CNN and the BBC use ‘logically incorrect English’. That’s very interesting.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Reconstruction[YSaerTTEW443543]

[Canadian45]

@Stejar33

Thank you very much for all your replies. They are very helpful.
Then I’ll stick to “It is cold in winter”.
Since this topic concerns weather, can you please tell me if the following sentence is correct?
“What season are you now?” [color=blue]No, people are not a season. But that might be said as an abbreviated form after some context has been established.

Or should I say “What season are you in now?”. [color=blue]correct
Thank you so much.

[Canadian45]

@Torsten

So based on your assessment news agencies/outlets such as Reuters, CNN and the BBC use ‘logically incorrect English’. That’s very interesting. [color=blue]It might be interesting, but I don’t think that anyone should be surprised that they sometimes do. Do you really think that broadcast people are hired only because they always speak correct and logical English and are never hired because of their looks and the sound of their voices?

TOEIC listening, photographs: Reconstruction

[Torsten]

Now it’s getting even more interesting. Are you implying that newspapers such as the New York Times (which use the term ‘cold weather’ too) hire their journalists and editors not because they use correct but because of their looks? Doesn’t make sense somehow.[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Steel drums[YSaerTTEW443543]

[Canadian45]

@Torsten

Now it’s getting even more interesting. Are you implying that newspapers such as the New York Times (which use the term ‘cold weather’ too) hire their journalists and editors not because they use correct but because of their looks? Doesn’t make sense somehow. [color=blue]No, I was talking about broadcast media, not print media.
But there is another point to make: the adjective-noun term ‘cold weather’ is much more acceptable than “The weather is cold.”
We shouldn’t stray too far away from the first post on this thread, which was the focus of the whole discussion.

TOEIC listening, photographs: Steel drums

[Alan]

Phew! or maybe Brrr! should be more appropriate. Now government officials can rest easy when they talk about ‘cold weather payments’ for the elderly and Shakespeare need have no worry about the line he gives Kent in King Lear -

Who’s there, besides foul weather?

But pray, how come that ‘cold weather’ passes muster but ‘The weather is cold’ attracts the stigma of

lower-level English

[Canadian45]

@Alan

But pray, how come that ‘cold weather’ passes muster but ‘The weather is cold’ attracts the stigma of

lower-level English

[color=blue]I think that my opinion has been largely laid out in previous posts.

a) The weather has been quite cold recently.
b) It’s been quite cold recently.
Why would you want to say ‘a’ when you could just say ‘b’? And the temperature is just one aspect of the weather.