'So to speak' versus 'As it were'

Tom · Mon Oct 23, 2006 23:52 pm *'So to speak' versus 'As it were'*

Hi

Could you please help me understand the use of the following expressions? Are they synonymous? How could we use them in a sentence?

1- So to speak
2- As it were

Tom

Conchita · Tue Oct 24, 2006 13:24 pm *So to speak/as it were*

The expressions so to speak and as it were mean 'in a manner of speaking', 'if I can put it that way'.

I was so terrified that my legs were like jelly, so to speak.

Don't you feel, as it were, overwhelmed by so many words and ways of putting them together?

Tom · Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:22 am *'So to speak' versus 'As it were'*

Bundles of thanks, Conchita! Very Happy

Conchita · Wed Oct 25, 2006 11:56 am *'So to speak' versus 'As it were'*

Your sentences sound okay to me, I guess. Try to place the phrases in question near the word/s they refer to, though -- in sentence number three, it is not very clear what 'so to speak' relates to.

The BNC gives lots of samples of the phrases in context:

http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=as+it+were

http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/saraWeb?qy=so+to+speak

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