The dog can die in a matter of hours.

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi, please have a look at this:

The dog can die in a matter of hours.

=> Does it mean exactly “The dog can die within some hours”?
I find the phrase “a matter of hours” a bit strange. Could you please give me another example of it?

Thank you very much.
Nessie.

2

Hi, Nessie

Yes, you’re right, it means that the dog can die in a few hours.
in a matter of hours/month/seconds is a common collocation, and you will hear a lot of it.

Merriam-Webster defines it as matter means “a more or less definite amount or quantity” as in
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/matter

You would also hear “in a matter of speaking” which means “so to speak”
Or
He spoke to me in a matter-of-fact manner (very formally and to the point)

3

Hi Alex
I think your keyboard must have had a brief short circuit which caused a couple of the Ns you typed to appear as a couple of Ts: “in a manner of speaking”. :wink:
.

4

Hi, Amy

Yep, right you are! I suspected there was something wrong with that phrase, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it :smiley:

5

Hi Amy, I find this from the site you gave:

Idiom(s):
so to speak
In a manner of speaking: can’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

-> but I stil can’t understand…

6

Hi Nessie

The expression ‘in a manner of speaking’ means in a way; as it were; so to speak. In other words, it is a way of saying or wording something which might not be literally true, or which might not necessarily be seen as correct by everyone.

  • Meet the woman who, in a manner of speaking, introduced Ebonics to the world.
  • In a manner of speaking, they’d both come home.
    .
7

Hi Nessie,

What is it you don’t understand? Is it the word ‘manner’?

Alan