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What is the best way to study english as a second language?

I want to know which expression can I use to talk about a changeable or variable situation/person?

Will try to make myself understood by an example. Is Mary laughing now but 3 minutes later she might start crying?

Why is Mary as likely to laugh and cry from it?

Thank you for your help and concern.

You have contributed greatly.

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2 Answer(s)

In the situation you provided, I would not use that phrase construction, as likely to… as…, because it usually implies equal chance of two reactions in response to a single event.

If Mary sees a particularly embarrassing moment from a childhood video, in that situation she might be “as likely to laugh as to cry.” If I say two responses one after the other–if at first she starts to laugh and later begins to cry…then her response is not related to the likelihood of one event in a person’s life. What is the key or method of responding to her question?

How do you answer a question that really depends on the meaning of “changeable”. If you mean variable in temporal sense (that is, that the reaction changes in time), that the person’s reaction could change, then the phrase does not apply.

Answered on December 22, 2021.
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In the situation you provided, I would not use that phrase construction, as likely to… as…, because it usually implies equal chance of two reactions in response to a single event.

If Mary sees a particularly embarrassing moment from a childhood video, in that situation she might be “as likely to laugh as to cry.” If I say two responses one after the other–if at first she starts to laugh and later begins to cry…then her response is not related to the likelihood of one event in a person’s life. What is the key or method of responding to her question?

How do you answer a question that really depends on the meaning of “changeable”. If you mean variable in temporal sense (that is, that the reaction changes in time), that the person’s reaction could change, then the phrase does not apply.

Answered on December 22, 2021.
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