The time of the year?

[Clara]

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #709 "Time of the Year", question 6

B: I'll tell you why then. It's because of the ......... of the year.

(a) date
(b) age
(c) time
(d) length

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #709 "Time of the Year", answer 6

B: I'll tell you why then. It's because of the time of the year.

Correct answer: (c) time
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Why?

Clara

[Alan]

Hi Clara,

'Time' in this sense suggests period or season. Some people feel unhappy in the season of autumn because the summer is now disappearing and the weather is no as good.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a policeman

[Clara]

Alan, thanks.
It's out of my expectation to get a so fast reply. ^-^
I like your lesson -- A Silver Lining. Really awesome. You explain those color idioms so well in a story.
So fantastic. I will go on with the other courses. I will not hesitate to put up my questions when I am puzzled.
Thanks in advance here.
Best regards
Clara

[Torsten]

Hi Clara,

I'm very pleased to hear that you liked Alan's story because I find it fantastic too. Are there any expressions or phases you enjoyed in particular?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Clara]

Torsten,

Great minds think alike. In "A Silver Lining" there are many expressions which are my favorite. For example, once in a blue moon; in black and white; in the pink; red letter day, etc. So great the story is, there are 29 color idioms or expressions in all. (Thumb up)
However, I still have several puzzles in the story. Looking forward to getting your help.
1) We looked at dozens of white and off white cars but none seemed to be worth buying.
Does it mean: We looked at dozens of white cars and other color cars but none seemed to be worth buying.
I am puzzled at " off white cars". ^-^
2) It's quite a good car and it's white or to be more accurate, it's more what you would call two tone.
How to understand "call two tone", what's meaning? Is it "call two tones" instead of "call two tone".
3) You see with the white there's quite a bit of brown — known less colourfully as rust.
Here, although there is the paraphrase, I didn't work out the meaning of "quite a bit of brown".

Clara

[Alan]

Hi Clara,

Let me try to explain what I meant by some of those expressions: 'off white' suggests not pure white - it could be a little darker than that. 'Two tone' means that parts of the car are painted in two different colours - it could for example be dark green and light green. Since 'two tone' is used as a n adjective, it would not have the final 's'. The car is painted in two different tones of green/You would describe this as a two tone colour. 'Quite a bit of brown' means there was a lot of brown and this was caused by the rust.

Hope this helps.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Read the Signs...

[Clara]

Alan,
Your explanations really help a lot. Thanks.

Clara

[Clara]

In the film SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, there is a sentence:
The judge called what I had done ‘a hideous, heinous crime’, and it was, but it is also in the past now. You can look it up in the yellowing files of the Castle Rock Call, where the big headlines announcing my conviction look sort of funny and antique next to the news of Hitler and Mussolini and FDR’s alphabet soup agencies.
What does "yellow files" refer to?

Clara

[Clara]

I do the test again - Like a Red Rag. This time I have answered 10 questions out of 10 correctly. But one question to ask:
6. She lost the company a lot of money last week and as a result has got a black mark against her name.
I have no idea which meaning "against" here refer to?

Clara

[Conchita]

[Clara]

Conchita,
Thanks. I see, so "yellowing files" means old documents here.

Clara