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#2 (permalink) Fri Jul 11, 2008 22:15 pm "reduce sth to sth" vs "reduce sth by sth" |
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"reduce something (A) to something (B)": reduce art to show; "reduce something (A) by something (B)": reduce the water by a pump |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: Japan
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#3 (permalink) Sat Jul 12, 2008 16:50 pm "reduce sth to sth" vs "reduce sth by sth" |
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Hi, can you explain?
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"reduce something (A) to something (B)": reduce art to show; "reduce something (A) by something (B)": reduce the water by a pump |
I agree that
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| the former structure has the meaning that we reduce (A) so that the remain is (B) |
but concerning by, I think that we subtract B from A. Or it's the same as what Nessie wrote?  _________________ I am an incurable optimist. |
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Inga I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 255 Location: Minsk, Belarus
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#4 (permalink) Tue Jul 15, 2008 17:59 pm "reduce sth to sth" vs "reduce sth by sth" |
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Try to see this better by using an example: You have 10 shirts and you want to reduce them TO 2. You will get rid of 8 of them, leaving 2. If you have 10 shirts and want to reduce them BY 2, you will get rid of the 2, leaving 8. In the example you give, either to or by will be correct as the example uses 1/2, and if you reduce by 1/2 you are left with 1/2. If you reduce to 1/2, you are still left with 1/2. If the example had used a different fraction, that would make a difference. Another example: Let's say that you have 8 shirts and want to reduce them BY 1/4. 1/4 of 8 is 2, so you get rid of 2, leaving 6. If you have 8 shirts and want to reduce them TO 1/4, that means you want to reduce them to 2, so you have to get rid of 6 to leave 2. |
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Crochooked New Member
Joined: 15 Jul 2008 Posts: 1
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#5 (permalink) Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:00 pm "reduce sth to sth" vs "reduce sth by sth" |
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Oh, Math is your favourite subject? Though I always liked it at school, I didn't guess to give such good examples. _________________ I am an incurable optimist. |
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Inga I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 21 Apr 2008 Posts: 255 Location: Minsk, Belarus
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Nessie I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 1102
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| Active and passive (order to the customer vs order of the customer?) | on the weekend vs. at the weekend |