Feb 28, 2007 09:48
17 yrs ago
English term
Veni Vidi Vici
Native in: Russian 
, Ukrainian
Works in: Russian to English, English to Russian, Ukrainian to English, and 5 more.
we had no other way out but
English
Tech/Engineering
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
input of characters with reduced keyboard
Hi Friends,
google produced only two results for the phrase "we had no other way out but", therefore, I believe this phrase would be at least uncommon. Please help me put this phrase into standard English
Another question is if use of the words "lift" vs. "sink" correct in teh last sentence ? "lift" appears ok but I am not sure about "sink"
The context is given below.
===
For distribution of the letters over the positions in the second circle, we have applied only the principle # 1. Therefore, positions of the letters “H”, “D”, “L”, “C”, “F”, “U”, “M”, “G” correspond, as close as possible, to their mutual arrangement on the full PC keyboard.
The only exception is with the positions of the letters “F”, “G” and “H”, which are located in the second row near the letter “D” on the standard “QWERTY” keyboard.
In this case, ***we had no other way out but ***to “lift” the letters “F” and “H” into the first row on the positions 9 and 10, and to "sink" the letter “G” into the third row on the position 14.
google produced only two results for the phrase "we had no other way out but", therefore, I believe this phrase would be at least uncommon. Please help me put this phrase into standard English
Another question is if use of the words "lift" vs. "sink" correct in teh last sentence ? "lift" appears ok but I am not sure about "sink"
The context is given below.
===
For distribution of the letters over the positions in the second circle, we have applied only the principle # 1. Therefore, positions of the letters “H”, “D”, “L”, “C”, “F”, “U”, “M”, “G” correspond, as close as possible, to their mutual arrangement on the full PC keyboard.
The only exception is with the positions of the letters “F”, “G” and “H”, which are located in the second row near the letter “D” on the standard “QWERTY” keyboard.
In this case, ***we had no other way out but ***to “lift” the letters “F” and “H” into the first row on the positions 9 and 10, and to "sink" the letter “G” into the third row on the position 14.
Responses
Responses
+12
9 mins
Selected
the only solution was to
Just an idea.
In this case, the only solution was to bring letters “F” and “H” into positions 9 and 10 on the first row and to drop letter “G” into position 14 on row three.
In this case, the only solution was to bring letters “F” and “H” into positions 9 and 10 on the first row and to drop letter “G” into position 14 on row three.
Peer comment(s):
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cmwilliams (X)
2 mins
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thanks, cmwilliams
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| agree |
Mary-Ann Marque
6 mins
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thanks, Mary-Ann
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| agree |
Vicky Papaprodromou
21 mins
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thanks, Vicky
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| agree |
writeaway
: clear, concise and to the point
33 mins
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thanks, w/away
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| agree |
Mehmet Hascan
46 mins
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thanks, Mehmet
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| agree |
Richard Jenkins
2 hrs
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thanks, Richard
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| agree |
Robert Fox
2 hrs
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thanks, Robert
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| agree |
kmtext
8 hrs
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thanks, kmtext
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| agree |
Cristina Santos
9 hrs
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thanks, Cristina
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| agree |
Sophia Finos (X)
10 hrs
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Thanks, Sophia
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| agree |
Pham Huu Phuoc
1 day 20 hrs
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Thanks, Pham Huu Phuoc
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| agree |
Alfa Trans (X)
3 days 3 hrs
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Thanks, Marju
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "many thanks to all ! in fact I wrote "the best solution was to" but this was inspired by your answer, Amy :)"
8 mins
William [Bill] Gray
Norway
Norway
Native in English
&
English
Norway
Working with words
Native in: English 
Works in: English, Norwegian to English, Danish to English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
40
See below...
This might help you:
In this case, we needed to RAISE/LIFT the letters “F” and “H” into the first row on the positions 9 and 10, and to LOWER/DROP the letter “G” into the third row on the position 14.
In this case, we needed to RAISE/LIFT the letters “F” and “H” into the first row on the positions 9 and 10, and to LOWER/DROP the letter “G” into the third row on the position 14.
+5
20 mins
English term (edited):
we had no other way out but to...
we had no choice but to [See comments below...]
Paucity of Ghits notwithstanding, "we had no other way ou but to..." is perfectly good, if slightly old-fashioned English, but both the expression and the register would be inappropriate I feel in your context.
If you really seek to emphasize the powerlesness of the designers to do anything better (sounds a bit lame to me), you could use "we had no choice but to..." or "we were obliged to...", but I don't really think there's much advantage, and other answerers' suggestions would I feel be more neutral and quite sufficient.
As for lift/sink: no, those both sound distinctly odd to my ears. I think Amy and Bill's raise / drop are much better, but still a little odd. I think that, given the fact that this keyboard is basically going to be horizontal rather than vertical (I assume?), I would simply say "move up / down (a row)", which has less of a feel of "altitude" about it to me.
If you really seek to emphasize the powerlesness of the designers to do anything better (sounds a bit lame to me), you could use "we had no choice but to..." or "we were obliged to...", but I don't really think there's much advantage, and other answerers' suggestions would I feel be more neutral and quite sufficient.
As for lift/sink: no, those both sound distinctly odd to my ears. I think Amy and Bill's raise / drop are much better, but still a little odd. I think that, given the fact that this keyboard is basically going to be horizontal rather than vertical (I assume?), I would simply say "move up / down (a row)", which has less of a feel of "altitude" about it to me.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Richard Benham
: I have some slightly different takes (see my note to asker), but still a thoughtful answer. I think maybe my IT background has inured me to the concrete spatial implications of the words concerned.
6 mins
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Thanks, RB!
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Vicky Papaprodromou
10 mins
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Efharisto, Vicky!
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| agree |
Paula Vaz-Carreiro
: Nice answer
32 mins
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Thanks, Paula!
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| agree |
kmtext
7 hrs
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Thanks, KMT!
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| agree |
Olga B
8 hrs
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Thanks, Olga!
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+3
23 mins
some suggestions...
actually this part is fine though not simple stylistically
try (more idiomatic): In this case, we had no alternative but to move the letters “F” and “H” up to positions 9 and 10 on the first row and to move the letter “G” down to position 14 on the third row.
Also note in the first sentence you gave "as closely as possible"....
try (more idiomatic): In this case, we had no alternative but to move the letters “F” and “H” up to positions 9 and 10 on the first row and to move the letter “G” down to position 14 on the third row.
Also note in the first sentence you gave "as closely as possible"....
2 hrs
Dr. Sunita Gupta
India
India
Works in field
India
No better translation than from a native
Native in: Marathi , Hindi
Works in: English to Marathi, English to Hindi, Russian to English, and 3 more.
we had no otion, but to...
"no other way" leaves no otion, but to do what is available
Discussion