English Experts

[Marcio_Farias]

Curiosamente, suspender na Inglaterra significa "liga de meia", além de "suporte de cabo elétrico" e "algo suspenso (com uma cesta de flores)".

Em português funciona como verbo mesmo!

[Henry Cunha]

Aqui suspenders é suspensórios, além de outras coisas.

[Henry Cunha]

Two of my favourite expressions:

Now, just suspend your disbelief... (on hearing a tall tale)

Sentence suspended! (coming from a judge)

Cheers!

[Marcio_Farias]

H, what does the judge's statement "Sentence suspended!" mean?

[Henry Cunha]

"A suspended sentence is a sentence rendered by a judge which will not enforced if the defendant meets certain conditions, such as, among others, performing community service, paying restitution to the victim, completing a drug or alcohol abuse treatment program, or staying out of trouble. If the defendant fails to meet the conditions, the sentence will be enforced. State laws on suspended sentencing vary, but a suspended sentence may count as a conviction for enhancing penalties of future offenses." From http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/suspended-sentence/

I entered a guilty plea for a parking offense, explaining to the judge that I had requested an appearance for trial based on a faulty misunderstanding of the charge (in other words, my defense would have been invalid). The judge must have been feeling good that morning, because he accepted my plea but suspended the sentence (i.e., the fine I would normally have had to pay) and let me walk out scot-free. But, keep in mind that should I land back in court for similar offenses, the prosecutor could bring this up, and at that time a judge might not be so lenient and re-impose the original sentence, along with whatever else might be happening in the new case. So "suspended" is good (for me), but it doesn't mean "dismissed." (That's what that last sentence in the quote is saying.) Probably in Portuguese "arquivado" has a parallel meaning?

Regards

[Flavia.lm]

Suspend (inglês) = suspender (português)
sentence suspended = sentença suspensa (o arquivamento vai acontecer depois da suspensão)

the only false friend here is the first definition of "suspender"(English) given by Márcio.

[Marcio_Farias]

@Henry
@Flavia

Thank you. I think I got that straight.

[Henry Cunha]

Can you imagine this newspaper headline?

"Judge suspends hanging sentence"

Regards

[Marcio_Farias]

Good one, H.

[Henry Cunha]

As language terms, we also have "dangling modifiers" and "hanging indents".

For dangling modifiers, there are some good exercises at http://www.towson.edu/ows/exercisedmm.htm (That's my old university, by the way! I see they're still hanging people there! Actually, if you can do this exercise well, your English is well on its way out of the doghouse.)

To "execute" a hanging indent, just tie a rope around all the lines of a paragraph, except its headline, and squeeze marginally...

Cheers!