Speech patterns

1. Older and wiser and better people had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his bread-and-milk.¹

How can I possibly do it?

Do it if you possibly can.

The child couldn't possibly have done it alone.

2. She was a woman of few ideas, with immense power of concentration.

She was a woman of few words.

She has alwas been a woman of fashion.

He is a man of property.

3. a) ... there was a piece of tapestry that was evidently meant to be a fire-screen.

The door is meant to be used in case of emergency.

He was meant to be an artist.

b) They were meant for each other.

Are these flowers meant for me?

What I said wasn't meant for your ears.

4. That part of the picture was simple if interesting. That part of the play was entertaining if long. The concert was enjoyable if loud.

The dress was unattractive if new.

¹ The pattern is mostly used in interrogative and negative sentences.

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5. ...but here there were wonderful things for the eyes to feast on.

Children don't have enough protein for their bodies to develop

properly.

This is not the right time for the man to do this job.

This train doesn't leave early enough for us to reach London

before 5.