Re: Tough
ask
Posted by Word Camel on October 31, 2002 In Reply to: Re: Tough ask posted by ESC
on October 31, 2002
: :
: : Can some body tell me, whether
it is correct to say that some thing was tough ask meaning was difficult to perform?
:
Yes. "That job was tough to do." "They gave him a tough job."
Tough is a
perfectly acceptable adjective but "tough ask" isn't correct. "Tough ask" uses
the word "ask", a verb as a noun. Adjectives modify nouns. A better choice would
be "tough question", or "tough assignment".
Now it's entirely possible that
someone out there is using "tough ask" but it isn't correct, nor is it particularly
clever or charming as some deliberate grammatical mistakes can be. If I heard
someone using this expression I'd probably draw the conclusion that he had very
poor language skills or that it was some obnoxious affectation.
- Re:
Tough ask Word Wizard 10/31/02 (2)
- Re:
Tough ask bob 10/31/02 (7)
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