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#2 (permalink) Mon Feb 23, 2004 15:19 pm Hearsay |
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Hi Thinker,
'Hearsay' is information that people receive from other people by word of mouth. Oftentimes there is no evidence whether or not the information is true. You 'hear people say' something but you don't know how much of it is real. Another word might be 'gossip' or 'rumours'. _________________ Test Of English for International Communication TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
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Torsten Learning Coach

Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 9929 Location: EU
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#3 (permalink) Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:13 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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Hi,
Could you tell me the 'hearsay' here in 'it's only hearsay' is a noun or an adjective?
Thank you. haihao |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: Japan
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#4 (permalink) Tue Dec 19, 2006 7:50 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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I't's a noun, Haihao.
To use hearsay as an adjective, it would have to precede a noun: That's hearsay information.
Amy |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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#5 (permalink) Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:29 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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Hi Haihao,
You can substitute 'hearsay' as a noun with an alternative noun having the same meaning -'rumour'.
A _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/hold |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 9114 Location: UK
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#6 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:06 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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| How popular is this word in the English-speaking world? I know the noun "rumour" (rumor) very well, but "hearsay" doesn't look that familiar to me. |
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RussianBear I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 01 Apr 2009 Posts: 24 Location: A bit on the side, :)
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#7 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:49 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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Hi RB,
My, that is a big question! It's rather like asking: How long is a piece of string?
Alan _________________ English as a Foreign Language You can read my EFL story Word Story: Health |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 9114 Location: UK
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#8 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 8:56 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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| Alan wrote: | Hi RB,
My, that is a big question! It's rather like asking: How long is a piece of string?
Alan |
OK, let's go another way. How many times did you hear this word within the last ...ahem...two years? |
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RussianBear I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 01 Apr 2009 Posts: 24 Location: A bit on the side, :)
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#9 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:24 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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Hi RB,
Forgive my flippancy in the previous post. All I can say is that the word is, in my experience, frequently used.
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Are you a Persuader? |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 9114 Location: UK
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#10 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 11:35 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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| Alan wrote: | Hi RB,
Forgive my flippancy in the previous post. All I can say is that the word is, in my experience, frequently used.
Alan |
Hi Alan, I like flippancy and find seriousness boring. So let's keep on the flip side.  I asked a friend of mine (he's an Australian) about this word and here's what he responded:
| Quote: | | "Hearsay" is common in legal circles and available for use but not so common, among the general public. |
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RussianBear I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 01 Apr 2009 Posts: 24 Location: A bit on the side, :)
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#11 (permalink) Thu Jul 09, 2009 16:31 pm Expression "it's only hear say" |
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Hello Russian Bear,
From the perspective of American English, I can see your Australian friend's point, but might describe it slightly differently. The expression "legal circles" suggests people such as lawyers and judges. I would prefer to say that the word "hearsay" is mostly used in legal contexts. In other words, it's not only lawyers and judges who use the word, and it's not restricted to the courtroom or law offices. People in the general public also use the word, but again, it is often in some sort of legal context or in a context with a legal "flavor". People in the general public do talk about legal battles and situations that could lead to legal battles, for example. It might also be used simply to say that what someone has stated to be true is not based on first-hand knowledge or solid evidence, and thus may in fact be completely untrue.
As for frequency of usage, it's not really an uncommon word. However, if I had to guess how many times I'd used it myself in the past year, I'd guess probably not more than 10 or 15 times or so. It's hard to say. I've probably heard it or read it more often than I've used it myself.
_____________________ "All truths begin as hearsay, as far as I'm concerned." ~ Matt Drudge |
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Esl_Expert I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 26 Dec 2008 Posts: 277 Location: USA
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#12 (permalink) Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:10 am Expression "it's only hear say" |
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Hello Esl_Expert,
Many thanks for the detailed explanation. I got it. |
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RussianBear I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 01 Apr 2009 Posts: 24 Location: A bit on the side, :)
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#13 (permalink) Mon Sep 07, 2009 13:06 pm Expression "it's only hear say" |
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Hello Esl_Expert,
Thank you for the explanation, now I can surely say that I understand the meaning of that word  |
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Shush New Member

Joined: 03 Sep 2009 Posts: 2 Location: Armenia
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| I've been trying since | What does 'knock on' mean here? |