75 A pat on the back: complimenting and praising

75

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B

A pat on the back: complimenting and praising

Collocations with compliment and praise

The boss would get better results if she paid her staff compliments occasionally. He asked us what we thought of his suit, but he was really only fishing for compliments. Take it as a compliment that he feels relaxed enough to fall asleep at your dinner party! A back-handed compliment and a double-edged compliment are ones that appear to be both positive and negative. Back-handed compliments tend to have a malicious intent, whereas doubleedged ones are usually made innocently. I took it as a back-handed compliment when he said I was looking good for my age. She paid me the double-edged compliment of saying my driving was pretty good for a beginner. The phrase give praise to is usually used only (though not exclusively) for a god. An action or person that deserves praise is praiseworthy and people are praised for their actions. Other common collocations are widely/ highly praised, praised to the skies, to sing someone’s/something’s praises, to shower/ heap praise on someone/something. To damn someone with faint praise is to praise with such a lack of enthusiasm that you give the impression of actually having rather negative feelings.

Common mistakes

The verb to compliment is followed by on: He complimented me on my guitar playing (NOT He complimented me my guitar playing).

Other expressions relating to praising

expression meaning example pay tribute to praise; formal At the memorial service, I paid tribute to his kindness.

give someone a standing ovation

stand up and clap loudly for a long time At the end of the concert, the audience gave the young pianist a standing ovation.

extol the virtues/

benefits of

praise highly; formal At the conference, the Prime Minister extolled the virtues of the new trade treaty.

be the toast of

be admired for some recent achievement (often used about artists and celebrities) A few months ago, hardly anyone had heard of her but now she’s the toast of Hollywood.

pat someone on the back

/ give someone a pat on

the back

praise, often children (used mostly metaphorically)

My teacher patted me on the back / gave me a pat on the back for my good marks in the maths test. earn/win plaudits get positive comments; formal The exhibition earned plaudits from all the major reviewers.

laud (adj. = laudable (of behaviour), laudatory (of comments or remarks)) praise highly in official situations; formal The Prime Minister has lauded the new peace initiative.

These mostly informal expressions imply praising someone for your own benefit: to flatter, to make up to, to crawl, to suck up to, to lick someone’s boots. Someone who behaves like this can be called smarmy, slimy or a crawler (all informal), a flatterer (neutral) or servile, obsequious (more formal). Flatter can also be used more positively. That dress flatters her figure. [makes her figure look better

than it really is] The noun flattery is often used in the phrase Flattery will get you nowhere![insincere praise will not

achieve anything]

75.1

75.2

75.3

75.4

75.5

Look at A opposite and fill the gaps in these sentences with one word.

1 A: Do you like my new hairstyle? B: Don’t for compliments. 2 At the meeting everyone was your praises. 3 He’s not very good at people compliments. 4 Mrs Carrington is always praising her pupils the skies. 5 It may sound a bit double-edged, but I think you should what she says a compliment. 6 He never knows what to say when fans praise on him.

7 I didn’t enjoy the film but it has been very

praised by the critics. 8 Look at this reference. It’s really the candidate with faint praise.

Look at the table in B opposite. Match the beginning of each sentence with its ending.

1 The performers were given a tribute to her predecessor. 2 In the speech, the new manager paid b a pat on the back for her drawings. 3 They’re always extolling c the toast of the tennis world. 4 Matt’s design earned him d a standing ovation. 5 The teacher gave Becky e the virtues of living in the country. 6 The new young Czech player was f the highest plaudits from the judges.

Look at the words below the table in B. Write each of the following sentences in four different ways. Indicate which of your sentences are particularly formal or informal.

1 He’s always sucking up to the boss. 2 I wish she wasn’t so smarmy.

Complete this word formation table. Do not fill the shaded boxes. Give two answers for some of the words. Use a dictionary if necessary.

verb noun adjective compliment praise laud flatter crawl

smarm

Choose one of the words from the table in 75.4 to complete these sentences.

1 Although she didn’t win a prize, the judges were very about her efforts. 2 Jake’s a real , so I never take much notice of his compliments. 3 When he discovered the size of his mistake, he had to to the boss. 4 Her actions were foolish but her motives were .

5 There’s no point saying how good I am. will get you nowhere!

6 Whilst we cannot but the skill of their actions, we must express a certain disapproval

of the risks they took.