Many friends like to memorize strange words and long and difficult words in the preparation process, but they often can't remember the sentence patterns they use or can't distinguish their attitudes, resulting in the wrong situation. Instead of wasting time on difficult words and new words, it is better to pay attention to the variety of uses of common small words. This will make your expression more authentic, and the vocabulary score will not be low.
Today we take a look at the first word – pin
The word pin is well known to many people, and when used as a noun, it refers to "pin; brooch". The U-shaped needles we usually say are U-shaped pins in English.
There is a very vivid expression about the noun pin:
be on pins and needles
Literally, it means "like on a needle", which means "fidgeting", which is similar to "like sitting on a needle felt" in the Chinese. The English interpretation is to be very nervous and unable to relax, .
Let's look at some example sentences of American dramas:
致命女人：I have been on pins and needles.
Desperate housewives: We are on pins and needls.
Screenshot of the economics humanities segment
经济学人：Every weekend, we watching to see if our film will flop.
Then when you want to describe the nervousness and anxiety of waiting for the grade later, you can express it with be on pins and needles.
In addition to being a noun, pin can also be used as a verb. There are many uses of pin as a verb, you just need to remember its core verb meaning "nailed; fixed", and the rest of the usage can be derived from this.
First, let's look at the sentence patterns the New York Times uses when talking about papi sauce, the title dispute, and feminism:
Jiang did not respond directly to the latest criticism but a video from last year to the top of her Weibo page, in which she insinuated there were people in society who were so picky they were not satisfied with anything others talked about.
This passage uses the verb pin to express the top of Weibo: pin a video from last year to the top of her Weibo page, not only full of picture sense, but also "nailed" also indicates that the contradictions of this video are prominent.
Let's take a look at common collocations that can be used in writing:
pin the blame on sb（写作）
The literal meaning of this phrase is "to pin the blame on someone", which by extension means "blame someone", and is often used when others have not done it. Similar to the meaning of "throwing pot". To make sb be blamed for sth, especially for sth they did not do
Take a look at the sentences in the foreign journal and experience the context in which the blame on sb is used:
An article in The Economist on agricultural technological reform mentions:
Many foodies farming’s ills on “unnatural” industrial agriculture.
Many diners blame agricultural ills on "unnatural" industrial agriculture.
Another example is Bloomberg's article on covid-19:
Trump Seeks to China, Yet Reprisal Is Uncertain
Trump has tried to blame China for the virus, but it is unclear what kind of counterattack he will face.
pin sth on sth (writing + speaking)
You can say pin sth on sth, or you can say "to make sb be blamed for sth, especially for sth they did not do."
比如《摩登家庭》 I was just gonna pin it on the cleaning lady.
Pin sth on sb, pin the blame on sb these two phrases and the usual put the blame on sb, blame on sb is more graphic, but note that pin sth on sb and pin the blame on sb have an extra layer of responsibility.
pin one’s hopes/faith on sb（写作）
Pin one's faith/hopes on sb literally means "nailing faith to someone," which means "pinning your hopes on someone." The English explanation is to rely on sb/sth completely for success or help.
When using, pay attention to:
faith is an uncountable noun, no preceding it with an article, and no s: pin faith on sb
hope is a countable noun that needs to be followed by s: pin hopes on sb
Let's take a look at a quote from the BBC about the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic for the United States:
The institutional decline of government that led so many Americans to an individual, Donald Trump, is again plain to see, whether in the shortage of masks and protective gowns or the dearth of early testing.
The government's structural decline is evident, as evidenced by the shortage of masks and protective clothing or the inadequacy of early testing, which has led many Americans to have high hopes for Donald Trump.
The familiar rely/count on sb can be replaced with pin faith/hopes on sb.
After reading the above authentic example sentence, let's simply imitate a sentence:
- If you fail, you cannot pin the blame on your teachers or the examiner.
If you hang up on your exam, you may try to blame your teacher or examiner.