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Help!

Posted by Bruce Kahl on December 25, 2003

In Reply to: Help! posted by R. Berg on December 25, 2003

: : 1.Schumacher was outshone by a jet. He lost 2-1 over to the Air Force fighter jet over 3 distances.

: : How to explain the first 'over'? Could we remove it?

: I can't explain it. Yes, we can remove it, unless it has a technical meaning I'm unaware of that relates to flight.
:
: : 2.He entered the messy room. A spider's web caught in his face.

: : Why 'caught in his face'? COuld we remove 'in'?

: The sentence is strange because "to catch in something" means to become stuck inside something. A piece of paper can become caught in the mechanism of a copy machine. But a face can't enclose a web. However, "A spider's web caught his face" would be wrong because it would mean the web held his face still, kept it from moving. Webs catch flies, but they aren't strong enough to catch faces.

When you get caught in a spider web your face is covered in web stuff which sticks to your face making you pick at it piece by piece to remove it. I think that the word "caught", in the sentence cited, can mean "encumber".

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