ANSWER

I. noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a correct answer

▪

Lucy got fourteen out of twenty correct answers.

an answering machine (= for recording telephone messages )

▪

There’s a message on the answering machine.

answer a call

▪

We’re sorry that we cannot answer your call right now.

answer a letter/reply to a letter

▪

I never answered his letter.

answer a question

▪

You haven’t answered my question.

answer an advertisement

▪

I answered an advertisement in the paper for volunteers.

answer an inquiry ( also respond to an inquiry formal )

▪

The government has not yet answered our inquiry.

answer sb's prayer (= respond to a prayer, especially by giving you what you ask for )

▪

One day my prayers were answered.

answer the door (= open it for someone who has knocked or pressed the bell )

▪

Lucy ran downstairs to answer the door.

answer the phone ( also pick up the phone )

▪

My dad answered the phone.

answer the telephone

▪

When I called the house, Mike answered the telephone.

answering machine

answer...queries

▪

Staff are always available to answer your queries .

answer/reply to an email

▪

She did not bother replying to his email.

negative answer/reply/response

▪

He gave a negative answer without any explanation.

ready answer

▪

I had no ready answer to his question.

sb answering a description (= a person who looks like someone in a police description )

▪

A young girl answering this description has been seen in Spain.

straight answer

▪

I’d like a straight answer please.

stumped for words/an answer/a reply

▪

Travis seemed absolutely stumped for words.

the answer is no

▪

If you’re asking whether I feel the same way about her, the answer is no .

the obvious answer

▪

There is no obvious answer to their problem.

the problem/answer etc lies with/in sth

▪

The difficulty lies in providing sufficient evidence.

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

correct

▪

Conversely, correct answers were sometimes treated as if they were incorrect.

▪

The correct answer is: Yes.

▪

This supplements the consideration of deductive and logical abilities measured by the traditional convergent questions for which there are unique correct answers .

▪

Owner Jim presented flash cards, writes Steiner, and Sunny came up with correct answers .

▪

A total of 71 percent of the full attainment range sample obtained the correct answer .

▪

The correct answer is Coco Chanel.

▪

The point is that nobody can be sure what the correct answer actually is.

▪

The quicker the player chooses the correct answer , the more points he or she gets.

definite

▪

Philosophers need to stop procrastinating and staring at their navels and answer questions like the one above with a definite answer.

▪

Because there are few definite answers in law, it engages one to be philosophical-or spiritual, you might say.

▪

The accompanying text pages explore these questions and give definite answers as a basis for discussion.

▪

I would like to give a definite answer .

▪

For the bluesy sound that you are after, an old Marshall 50 with a 4x12 would be the definite answer .

▪

All are familiar with their own experiences of being asleep, and feel they can give definite answers .

▪

There can be no definite answer to this problem at the moment.

▪

None of those questions has a definite answer .

easy

▪

Some materials still resist easy answers - gold is an example.

▪

Because the move to management requires transformation, though, no easy answers or quick fixes are provided.

▪

No easy answers came and there were many apparent paradoxes.

▪

I found no easy answer from within myself.

▪

Magona's reexamination of a highly contentious political event leaves no easy answers .

▪

So much for an easy answer .

▪

It's time to ask questions that don't have easy answers .

▪

Instead of careful legalisms, there was an easy flow of answers , even if some were too pat.

honest

▪

The honest answer is another question; well what is there?

▪

In my mind, it was the only truly honest answer to my question.

▪

Unless it means he can't give an honest answer .

▪

Sadly the only honest answer to this question is that nobody knows.

▪

Please can we have some honest answers which really address the true situation?

▪

The attendant was entirely honest in his answers to my questions and in the amount of fuel he pumped.

▪

Be honest with your answers and repeat the questionnaire in two months' time!

▪

An honest answer seems to be that no one has the slightest idea.

obvious

▪

The obvious answer is to draw it back to the side away from the corner, but this can create an unbalanced appearance.

▪

Video teleconferencing seemed the obvious answer to span the communications gap.

▪

Cui bono? has a too obvious answer .

▪

If counterintelligence becomes the overriding mission, the obvious answer is the solution first offered by Sen.

▪

To all these and other equally weighty questions, I had no obvious answers yet.

▪

The obvious answer , of course, is that it is just another example of the Government's incompetence.

▪

For the Terrells a good many of the obvious answers are irrelevant.

only

▪

As a matter of interpretation the only possible answer is that it can not.

▪

In my mind, it was the only truly honest answer to my question.

▪

Surely those were good questions which need answering , and to abandon the community interpretation deprives us of the only possible answer.

▪

I should have known the only answer ever is to stand and fight.

▪

The only answer was to find himself some one new.

▪

Housing officers say the only answer is for tenants to be prepared to take their cases to court.

▪

The only answer was the serum.

▪

A return to scriptural authority is the only answer .

possible

▪

We look at other possible answers in the next chapter.

▪

Truc inadvertently provided a possible answer .

▪

Surely those were good questions which need answering , and to abandon the community interpretation deprives us of the only possible answer.

▪

There are other possible answers , too.

▪

A letter from Shrewsbury, received in Christmas week, provided one possible answer .

▪

Here is a possible answer: Michael Landon was rich, decent, handsome, young, and successful.

▪

But it is the first possible answer that presents the immediate worry.

▪

One possible answer is that the Fed is wrong, that depository institutions do borrow for profit as well as need.

right

▪

Mr. Lloyd may be right in his answer to the estoppel by deed point.

▪

They had simply assumed that, because I had asked the question, one of those words must be the right answer .

▪

The child will work it out on his fingers and get the right answer .

▪

What mattered was that I got the right answer .

▪

No one has all the right answers but there is now a willingness to share information.

▪

I quickly found out that knowing the right answer was much easier than selling it.

▪

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions.

▪

When a clinical situation poses a genuine moral dilemma, by definition no right answer exists.

satisfactory

▪

One long-standing allegation of satanic elements in masonry, however, still awaits a satisfactory answer .

▪

There are hundreds of questions to be asked in order to find a satisfactory answer to the general question.

▪

But she had no satisfactory answer to that.

▪

We are left by the master without a satisfactory answer to our question.

▪

She was baffled when she couldn't give herself, or wouldn't give herself, a satisfactory answer .

▪

I can not pretend to give a satisfactory answer to these questions.

▪

In the case of Sri Lanka, there is no satisfactory answer .

▪

But he can never come up with a satisfactory answer .

short

▪

There is a short and simple answer to this question.

▪

The short answer is yes, some but not nearly enough.

▪

That short answer gives rise to two further questions.

▪

We chatted about Guantanamo, me with the long questions and he with the short , abrupt answers .

▪

The short answer to that is that we don't know.

▪

A: The short answer is no.

▪

A well-structured short answer is better than a weakly-structured long answer.

simple

▪

The simple answer is, they do not.

▪

There is no simple answer to this question.

▪

In short, there is no simple answer to whether caffeine is, or is not, helpful in performing intellectual tasks.

▪

The simple answer is - yes.

▪

We persist in grasping at neat, simple answers , when we should be questioning everything.

▪

A simple answer would be to establish a sociology / psychology / philosophy core for all pupils.

▪

There is, unfortunately, no simple answer , for our knowledge on the subject will always be limited.

straight

▪

Then I want a straight answer .

▪

Tommy gave straight answers and expected them in return.

▪

I also want a straight answer on Charlie Northrup.

▪

Designed to provide a straight answer to a straight question as fast as possible.

▪

Now that was a straight answer .

▪

You just have to give a straight answer .

wrong

▪

There was a reluctance among some teachers to say openly that a particular answer to a question was wrong .

▪

With contemporary art, there is not always a right or wrong answer .

▪

They found no clearly right and wrong answers in dealing with people.

▪

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions.

▪

The teacher was told by the researcher to regard silence as a wrong answer and to punish it accordingly.

▪

But it's the wrong answer .

▪

Conversely, they attached little value to questions to which there were simply short right or wrong answers .

■ VERB

find

▪

And then she thought of how she might find an answer to some of her questions.

▪

There are hundreds of questions to be asked in order to find a satisfactory answer to the general question.

▪

In 1983 she found an answer - albeit the wrong one to all her problems.

▪

Suggested it would take a bipartisan commission to find answers for long-term imbalances in Social Security and Medicare.

▪

From this, assumptions can be made about the internal processes required to find the answer .

▪

And when you found the right answer , there was no arguing about it.

▪

Time to leave then, and find some answers .

▪

As with the science of fermentation, it took a surprisingly long time for anybody to find answers to such questions.

give

▪

I wish I could give a more hopeful answer .

▪

A Census Bureau study gives us the answer .

▪

The boy was quieter than his sister, and gave tongue-tied answers .

▪

I will give you my answer .

▪

When everyone has finished discussing, they give their answers .

▪

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer , do.

▪

However, they did find that personal service workers tended to give different answers to the questions about autonomy at work.

▪

My Internet provider gives conflicting answers .

know

▪

I mean, he knows the answers to all the questions in the Baby Trivia Quiz already.

▪

Without his even knowing it, the answer was already there for him, sitting fully formed in his head.

▪

I don't know the answer to all these questions.

▪

I quickly found out that knowing the right answer was much easier than selling it.

▪

I didn't know the answer and neither did anyone else.

▪

Eleven months ago, with a full head of hair, Dominic won this game because he knew the answer was Bambi.

▪

I should have known the only answer ever is to stand and fight.

▪

The voter knows that an affirmative answer would be considered more respectable than the truth.

lie

▪

The long-term answer lies in a case decision favourable to the taxpayer on this very point.

▪

The first answer lies in the choice of books.

▪

The answer probably lies in the complex maze of hype, distribution and luck which makes up today's rock biz.

▪

One answer lies in the technological advances that make it possible to operate with fewer people.

▪

The answer lies in the nature of Skymaster itself, and for that you need a little history.

▪

Sure, part of the new management answer lies in articulating why change is necessary and what the desired changes look like.

▪

The answer lies somewhere between these two extremes.

▪

This answer lies in several areas: high-quality content, use of the latest technology and the fun factor.

provide

▪

Researchers hope that observations of behaviour within the hive will provide an answer .

▪

No one can provide definitive answers to these questions.

▪

We regret that we can not provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are more than five years old.

▪

Evaluation does not provide all the answers and often presents no clear path for improvement.

▪

While measures for closer relations between auditors and shareholders are welcome, they may not provide the complete answer .

▪

This stage of experiment should focus and direct inquiry by providing some answers to old questions and suggesting some new questions.

▪

This approach tends to wait on the scientists to provide a satisfactory answer .

▪

The Senate subcommittee, like too many government entities, asked the wrong questions and provided no answers .

receive

▪

Both questions have to receive affirmative answers , and they are not mutually exclusive.

▪

Kate never received an answer to this letter, for it never reached Minnie.

▪

I've delivered the message, and I've received your answer .

▪

When Tabachnikov asked open-ended questions, she rarely received an answer .

▪

He thumped his hand on it twice and, receiving no answer , used his keys and entered.

▪

I asked, never receiving a satisfy-ing answer .

▪

Once all the tenders had been received , the answers were scored.

▪

You can also leave a question and receive an answer by mail or telephone call within a week.

send

▪

All you have to do is identify those plants and send in your answers on a postcard together with your name and address.

▪

No trouble! Send your answers to Link editor,,.

▪

Lenders advertising the same APRs sent in different answers .

write

▪

As each question is asked each team goes into a huddle and then writes down its answer .

▪

The Bureau drew most of its figures from a written answer to a printed form.

▪

Simply write the appropriate answers in the boxes on the corner of the page - all necessary information appears in this feature.

▪

First, it is apparent that illiterates will not have much success in giving written answers to a printed questionnaire.

▪

Answer the following questions. Write your answers on a sheet of paper which you can keep.

▪

Ask questions on any subject and receive written answers .

▪

Then use the coupon on the right to write your answers and personal details.

▪

They questioned the men, wrote down their answers , conferred, made decisions.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

an/the answer to sb's prayers

▪

Excel 4 has the answer to my prayers in the Scenario Manager.

▪

If so, a 100 per cent mortgage may look like the answer to your prayers .

▪

If so, Lands' End may have the answer to your prayers .

▪

She, she is the answer to my prayers .

▪

The letter seemed to be the answer to her prayers .

▪

To Jacqueline this was the answer to her prayers .

answer/reply in the affirmative

▪

Are men more mechanical than women? 67% of all men responding to our poll answered in the affirmative .

▪

When asked if he recognized the defendant, the witness replied in the affirmative .

▪

No doubt Harry's family would also have replied in the affirmative , indicating that they really did not know what happiness was.

▪

That question was answered in the affirmative .

▪

We can answer in the affirmative provided the weights are all positive.

speak/ask/answer etc directly

▪

Although they never spoke directly of Lachlan, each knew the other's mind; though not as well as she believed.

▪

Dole spoke directly about his age, saying 73 years of life are not a liability.

▪

Even when asked directly , as they were by Carol Hong, employees misrepresented the costs, her lawsuit alleges.

▪

In fact, a Harvard spokesman confirmed her admittance only when asked directly .

▪

Later she spoke directly to Rachel.

▪

They seem to speak directly out of the dark into your ears or mine alone.

▪

This is, however, a book that speaks directly to the home cook looking for new challenges and tastes.

▪

When asked directly what were their visions of Howdendyke's future, interviewees made fairly consistent replies.

there are no easy answers

▪

As usual, there are no easy answers to explain human behavior.

▪

But suddenly we find ourselves acknowledging that there are no easy answers to the dilemmas Christians face.

▪

So there are no easy answers.

▪

There are no easy answers to this problem.

won't take no for an answer

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪

Answers to the letters are as varied as the children who wrote them.

▪

A bank loan seemed like the answer to all our problems.

▪

And the answer is... Budapest!

▪

Did you ever get an answer to your last letter?

▪

Each time I ask him when the work will be done, I get a different answer .

▪

I've asked Yvonne to come on vacation with us, but I'm still waiting for her answer .

▪

If you're asking me for money, the answer 's no!

▪

Score one point for each correct answer .

▪

The answer to your question is very simple; you failed the exam because you didn't do any work.

▪

The city council has to find a better way of dealing with domestic waste. One answer is to burn it.

▪

The first person to call with the right answer will win 10 CDs of their choice.

▪

The obvious answer is to keep poisonous plants out of children's reach.

▪

There are no easy answers to today's environmental problems.

▪

There was a question and answer period after the lecture.

▪

Think carefully before you give the answer .

▪

We've written to the bank requesting a loan, and we're expecting an answer in this morning's mail.

▪

What's the answer to question 4?

▪

What was her answer ?

▪

Why don't people complain? The answer is that they are frightened of losing their jobs.

▪

Write your answers on the form and send it to this address.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪

I must also emphasise that the answer I give to the question before me will be of general application.

▪

In search of an answer , you follow your nose, wherever it leads, actively pursuing the mystery.

▪

Nor can the living coelacanth suggest an answer , for today it never leaves its deep waters.

▪

The answer is certainly not to pay all academics more.

▪

The answers they gave had to be corroborated by witnesses.

▪

The braggart turns every question into an answer that makes himself or herself look incredibly good.

▪

We chatted about Guantanamo, me with the long questions and he with the short, abrupt answers.

II. verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADVERB

for

▪

Elvis has a lot to answer for .

▪

Tax men have a lot to answer for .

▪

I think the present Government has a lot to answer for .

▪

The procedures whereby political decisions are made in the United States surely have much to answer for .

▪

The trade unions have been largely silent and it was felt that the media had a lot to answer for in this department.

▪

The old, and now much condemned, low-carbohydrate method of dieting had much to answer for in making social eaters fat.

▪

Time is relative - and Einstein has a lot to answer for .

yes

▪

Ninety-nine percent of those responding answered yes .

▪

If you had asked that question six or seven years ago, I would have answered yes ..

▪

Attorney Robert Rivas answers yes to both questions.

▪

The patient with damage to one frontal lobe catches on to the original sorting strategy and gets the string of yes answers .

▪

Twenty percent of single women and 18 percent of women who are now separated or divorced answered yes .

▪

Just 17 percent of women in our computer sample gave a yes answer to this question.

▪

Again, more men than women endorsed the romantic ideal by answering yes .

▪

Cosby answered yes when Baum asked if he ever told Jackson he loved her.

■ NOUN

call

▪

Secondly, it will answer calls for a less economistic analysis of social change and behaviour.

▪

They answered our call ....

▪

He would not answer at her call .

▪

Drinker answered phone calls at all hours from around the world, giving instructions on how to build and operate them.

▪

Perhaps she had known it would happen, perhaps he had answered her call for the same reason.

▪

The police officers, answering a call reporting a man beating a woman, were shot shortly before 10 p. m. Sunday.

▪

As Marguerite left the room for a moment to answer a phone call , Jenna looked up at Alain.

▪

Nor did it answer to a radio call .

charge

▪

This publication contained detailed descriptions of persons who failed to appear at court to answer a criminal charge .

▪

You can even have your phone answered for a minimal charge .

▪

Avon and Somerset Police have summonsed Redknapp to appear in court to answer charges of alleged abusive conduct.

▪

He needed intelligently and forthrightly to answer her charges and demonstrate sympathy for her embattled position.

▪

He said he would return to answer all charges .

▪

When he tried to answer such charges Gore seemed unable or unwilling to draw on Clinton's approach.

▪

He appeared in court to answer a charge of drink-driving - not, it transpired, for the first time.

▪

In particular non-disclosure makes it difficult to answer charges that the government's policies are not properly coordinated.

door

▪

Yesterday traders tracked down show chairman Alistair McCloud to his hotel room in Aylesbury, but he refused to answer the door .

▪

Yet it was clear to Sarn Fong that he should not go outside or answer the door after dark.

▪

Dimity's knitting had been hastily put aside when she answered the door , and decorated a low table near the fire.

▪

There was a rule in the Ackerman house that whoever was least busy had to answer the door and the phone.

▪

And he's not answering the door or coming out.

▪

Manuel Gustavo arrives, and when no one answers the door , comes in the back way.

▪

When traders tracked him down to his hotel room, he wouldn't answer the door .

▪

Her granddaughter says the old woman was afraid to answer the door , terrified that once again city officials would come knocking.

letter

▪

We regret that we are unable to answer your letters personally.

▪

He answered every letter in his voluminous correspondence, and never formally.

▪

Others need the extra information to answer readers' letters , whose numbers in some instances can be quite substantial.

▪

Normally he answered such letters at once, often in his own hand.

▪

He answered his letters in long-hand, and when he retired there was not even a typewriter in the building.

▪

Another acquaintance, some one we d not heard from since our last visit, apologized for not answering our annual letters .

▪

I will ensure that the hon. Gentleman is answered by letter .

▪

She asked me to apologize to you, should I see you, for not having answered your last letter .

need

▪

He had expected money to answer every need .

▪

Previously, most units had a clean-lined, contemporary look that did not answer needs of style-conscious traditionalists.

▪

The nurses say they are in favour of the Pill being available because it answers a very real need .

▪

But jiggling with the past to answer the needs of the present can be a high risk operation.

▪

It is answering a direct need of the audience.

▪

He kissed her, his mouth crushing hers, answering her need with his own.

▪

We're looking at new programmes - again to answer the needs of our audience.

▪

He believed they answered to people's needs .

phone

▪

He sat on the edge of the bed in his hotel room and waited for the phone to be answered .

▪

You can even have your phone answered for a minimal charge.

▪

What's the point of having a phone if you never answer it? he asked me.

▪

Even if the phone was answered , the client might not get through to the person he wanted.

prayer

▪

Both play a very clever trick which will answer the prayers of video users all round the world.

▪

I thought I could bestow beauty like a benediction and that your half-dark flesh would answer to the prayer .

▪

A very last thought is that we must do everything possible to answer our own prayers .

query

▪

We answer three of your queries about getting hair into tip-top condition.

▪

It gives clear detailed instructions, answers queries and suggests ways to improve your technique.

▪

The Bank staff are there to help you, answer your queries or take details of your complaint.

▪

Please note: We can not answer queries personally and no correspondence will be entered into.

▪

Our advisory services answer thousands of queries from people all over the country.

▪

I can't do much to answer your queries about Kaama.

▪

Station and telephone enquiry bureaux can answer queries on individual services.

▪

Gold Seal unit I should be grateful if you could answer a few technical queries for me.

question

▪

The relocation officer held departmental meetings during which every aspect of the move was discussed and employees' questions were answered .

▪

It might be thought of as an umbrella question which is answered by answering a series of minor questions.

▪

This kind of compromise, we confess, raises as many questions as it answers .

▪

The question is impossible to answer .

▪

Until these questions are answered , no computer can be said to understand language.

▪

Cover is a paltry three bucks, and further questions can be answered by calling 622-8848.

▪

All questions are to be answered .

▪

That question is never answered satisfactorily, even by its champions.

telephone

▪

I shall be killed, Paul Schramm thought, and all because Maria Grandinetti couldn't answer the telephone .

▪

Be pleasant to everyone, especially secretaries who answer the telephone .

▪

When answering the telephone , don't give your number.

▪

But the phone company patched through a line Friday night, and du Pont answered the telephone when authorities called.

▪

Her voice was breathless with bonhomie when she answered the telephone , with an undertone of throatiness that David found attractive.

▪

It was her job to answer the telephone , prepare coffee for her boss's visitors, and run errands.

▪

Here are some of them: Always answer the telephone promptly.

▪

She answered the telephone , thanked the Martellis for thanking her for the party.

■ VERB

attempt

▪

There are two lines of approach open to the inductivist in attempting to answer this question.

▪

Accounting information does not attempt to answer such questions.

▪

What is the most important question that political science should attempt to answer ?

▪

Regarding exercises: before attempting to answer a question do make sure you know the meaning of all the words in it!

▪

Rolling Stone attempted to answer that question recently, with the Rolling Stone 200&038;.

▪

That we should attempt to answer the question posed here at all would have seemed peculiar 200 years ago.

▪

One of the first questions they attempted to answer was, Where does stability come from?

refuse

▪

She ignored him, refusing to answer , because what could she say?

▪

She refused to answer questions from reporters later as she left.

▪

For a moment she considered saying nothing at all - after all, he had refused to answer her questions.

▪

Will you refuse to answer the phone if there is no number on your display?

▪

The Opposition refused to answer that in the recent debate, and they have refused to answer it again today.

▪

Yesterday traders tracked down show chairman Alistair McCloud to his hotel room in Aylesbury, but he refused to answer the door.

▪

He refused to answer questions about Paxon.

try

▪

Working with a partner, A asks B open questions, which B tries to answer as briefly as possible.

▪

Every psychotherapy process, early in its development, defines the basic questions it is trying to answer .

▪

Since its landmark 1978 decision in the Bakke reverse-discrimination case, the court has been trying to answer those questions.

▪

I am sorry, I am only trying to answer the question.

▪

When he tried to answer such charges Gore seemed unable or unwilling to draw on Clinton's approach.

▪

I tried again to answer him.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪

"Why don't you just leave?" "I'd like to," she answered, "but I have nowhere else to go."

▪

A strange man answered the door.

▪

How much did you spend? Come on, answer me!

▪

I got the job by answering an advertisement in the paper.

▪

I knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered.

▪

I said hello to her, but she didn't answer .

▪

If you answer correctly, you could win a video camera.

▪

Julie thought for a long time before answering.

▪

Miss Millar hired a secretary to answer her mail while she was on vacation.

▪

No one in the city government satisfactorily answered that question.

▪

Officials have made every effort to answer trade concerns.

▪

Only one person answered all the questions correctly.

▪

She still isn't answering my calls.

▪

The waiters are happy to answer customers' questions.

▪

Think carefully before answering that memo.

▪

When questioned about the robbery, Hughes answered that he knew nothing about it.

▪

Whitmore never answered any of my letters.

▪

You don't have to answer the question if you don't want to.

▪

You have 20 minutes to answer all the questions.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪

A few other players checked their watches, eager to stop fielding questions that only the Games can really answer now.

▪

As the editor in chief of such a magazine, I am obliged to answer a lot of questions about men.

▪

Be careful how you answer that one.

▪

Employing one or several people to answer calls, so that they are screened for their relevance.

▪

I think the present Government has a lot to answer for.

▪

It is a long interview because he is constitutionally incapable of answering a question without at least three long digressions.

▪

She refused to answer questions from reporters later as she left.

▪

That prayer may already be answered.