Free will is the power or capacity to act at your own pace or discretion.
And although many have debated over the true meaning of free will, it’s simply the ability to do what you like.
As you exercise free will, you can choose to do either good or evil deeds. For example, you may hear an English speaker say, “Use your free will to do good deeds.” The speaker is telling the listener to do no evil.
You may have seen the Japanese pictorial maxim “The Three Wise Monkeys?” These little guys use their “free will” to see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.
A “free spirit” is a person who thinks and acts without worrying about social conformities. Often, it’s writers and artists who are free spirits.
Historic Uses of “Free Spirit”
How has the idiom free spirit been used in a complete sentence?
It has been said that the Chinese writer Zhang Chao “remained a free spirit in his inner heart.”
Nietzsche, the philosopher, described free spirits as those who have unbound themselves from dogmatism (principles laid down by an authority) and transcended (surpassed) the need for objective (verifiable) truth.
In the manga series Imadoki, it’s said that Youji Kugyo “is a free spirit and runs away from the pressures of his high-status family to become a photographer.”
There are many other famous examples of the idiom “free spirit” in literature and art. The Freedom Forum, a nonprofit organization that runs the First Amendment Center and the Newseum Institute at Vanderbilt University, uses this slogan: “Free press, free speech, and free spirit.”
Examples of the idiom free spirit
Carlos is a free spirit and would be unsuited to be part of our team.
If you feel like a free spirit and want to express yourself through music, the studio is waiting for you.
My cousin is known to be a free spirit and a sensitive soul.
Let’s practice
Q1: Try making your own sentence.
Q2: Would you consider yourself a free spirit? Why or why not?
Q3: In your opinion, is being a free spirit a good or bad quality of a person? Explain your answer.
Subjunctive Mood is used to explore the unreal, but that’s not all. Aside from that, Subjunctive Mood can be used to express a proposal or suggestion.
Simply, a proposal is a plan of action that involves many people. For example, you may hear an English speaker say, “I propose that we meet at noon.” The speaker is suggesting that the speaker and listener meet at 12:00 PM.
Subjunctive Mood is used to explore the imagination. For example, you might hear an English speaker say, “If I were a fly on the wall, I’d see everything.” The speaker can’t see everything, but they are imagining they could. There’s a power in seeing everything and knowing the truth.
All Phrasal Verbs are idiomatic. Their meaning isn’t true in the dictionary. The Phrasal Verb “look through” is no different.
By saying “look through the junk drawer,” the speaker is telling the listener to search for something. This differs from “look through a telescope,” a Declarative that commands the listener to look at the stars.
And so, to “ Look through the junk and find a treasure map” commands that the listener search through the batteries, receipts, and other things that one stores in a junk drawer in hopes of finding a treasure map.
Meaning of Look Forward To as Phrasal Verb and its uses
The Phrasal Verb “look forward to,” like all other Phrasal Verbs we’ve covered, is idiomatic. Its meaning isn’t true in the dictionary.
And by saying “I’m looking forward to receiving your email,” the speaker isn’t actually using their eyes to look at something in the future. The speaker is thrilled at the idea of receiving an email.
Abstract Nouns are things that can’t be seen or touched. Although there are many things that fall into the category of Abstract Nouns, we are discussing emotions, those strong feelings that come from one’s situation, mood, or relationships with others.
Having said this, you may hear an English speaker say “It’s spring, and love is in the air.”
Abstract Nouns are things that can’t be held. They, often, are emotions, qualities, or characteristics such as “joy.”
You can think of Abstract Nouns like this, they refer to things that you can’t experience with your five senses. Abstract Nouns can’t be seen, smelled, heard, tasted, or touched.
Every language has Abstract Nouns.
Abstract Noun Versus Adjective
What is the difference between an abstract noun and an adjective
Zvi always felt alone. He felt as if he would never find a partner, but then he met Zellah, a woman who is his equal in all ways. Zellah felt the same and one day she said to Zvi, “We are a match made in heaven.”
The idiom “a match made in heaven” means that two people are perfect for each other in every way. And, a match made in heaven will have a blissful marriage.
The idiom pop the question has been in use since the 1700s.
Back then, pop the question meant to ask an important question. This question may have been a proposal of marriage, an inquiry into the possibility of purchasing land, or anything else considered important 300 years ago.
By the 1820s, the expression pop the question came to mean asking for someone’s hand in marriage.
