{"id":187,"date":"2015-07-24T07:09:34","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T07:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/97.74.134.56\/?p=187"},"modified":"2017-10-13T15:03:07","modified_gmt":"2017-10-13T09:33:07","slug":"6-foreign-expressions-you-should-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/6-foreign-expressions-you-should-know\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know<\/span><\/h1>\n

Whether you like it or not, foreign expressions represent an integral part of the English language (and of many other languages, too). Knowing the meaning and usage of the most used ones is very important. First of all because it will enable you to understand pieces of text that include them. Secondly, because you might also need to use those expressions on particular situations (avoid using them just to sound smart though). Below you will find 6 foreign expressions commonly used in English, enjoy!<\/span><\/p>\n

1. De Facto<\/strong><\/p>\n

De facto is a Latin expression that means \u201cactual\u201d (if used as an adjective) or \u201cin practice\u201d (if used as an adverb). In legal terms, de facto<\/em> is commonly used in contrast to de jure<\/em>, which means \u201cby law.\u201d Something, therefore, can emerge either de facto (by practice) or de jure (by law).<\/p>\n

Example<\/span> : And what of the plastic red bench, which has served as his de facto home for the last 15 years and must by now be a collector\u2019s item? (NY Times)<\/p>\n

2. Vis-\u00e0-Vis<\/strong><\/p>\n

The literal meaning of this French expression is \u201cface to face\u201d (used as an adverb). It is used more widely as a preposition though, meaning \u201ccompared with\u201d or \u201cin relation to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Example<\/span> : It\u2019s going to be a huge catalyst in moving the whole process forward and it really strengthens the U.S. position vis-a-vis our trading partners (Yahoo! News)<\/p>\n

3. Status quo<\/strong><\/p>\n

This famous Latin expression means \u201cthe current or existing state of affairs.\u201d If something changes the status quo<\/em>, it is changing the way things presently are.<\/p>\n

Example<\/span> : Bush believes that the status quo \u2014 the presence in a sovereign country of a militant group with missiles capable of hitting a U.S. ally \u2014 is unacceptable. (Washington Post)<\/p>\n

4. Cul-de-sac<\/strong><\/p>\n

This expression was originated in England by French-speaking aristocrats. Literally it means \u201cbottom of a sack,\u201d but generally it refers to a dead-end street. Cul-de-sac can also be used metaphorically to express an action that leads to nowhere or an impasse.<\/p>\n

Example<\/span> : But the code of omerta was in effect for two carloads of fans circling the cul-de-sac to have a look at the house. (Reuters.com)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A cul-de-sac of poverty (The Economist)<\/p>\n

5. Per se<\/strong><\/p>\n

Per se is a Latin expression that means \u201cby itself\u201d or \u201cintrinsically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Example<\/span> : The mistake it made with the Xbox is that there is no game console market per se; there are PlayStation, GameCube, and Xbox markets. (PCMag.com)<\/p>\n

6. Ad hoc<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ad hoc, borrowed from the Latin, can be used both as an adjective, where it means \u201cformed or created with a specific purpose,\u201d and as an adverb, where it means \u201cfor the specific purpose or situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Example<\/span> : The World Bank\u2019s board on Friday ordered an ad hoc group to discuss the fate of President Paul Wolfowitz (CNN)<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know Whether you like it or not, foreign expressions represent an integral part of the English language (and of many other languages, too). Knowing the meaning and usage of the most used ones is very important. First of all because it will enable you to understand pieces of text that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-learning-zone","8":"category-words"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/foreign-expressions.jpg?fit=800%2C521&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Writing Geeks","author_link":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/author\/writinggeeks\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/foreign-expressions.jpg?fit=800%2C521&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6uhmH-31","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189,"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writinggeeks.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}