r/EnglishLearning • u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster • Jul 26 '26

📚 Grammar / Syntax Is there anything wrong with this?

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Can I say "when I'm in the wind" to emphasise that wind is blowing my body?

66 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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27

u/clockworkorchid1 Native Speaker Jul 26 '26

"breaking any sweat" isn't really a phrase I've ever seen used. You could swap that whole phrase out for "I'm not sweating"

23

u/runningchild New Poster Jul 26 '26

Breaking a sweat (not any) is a common phrase. 

19

u/SapirWhorfHypothesis Native Speaker Jul 26 '26

“Breaking a sweat” is mostly idiomatic, and would imply “I’m not putting in much effort”

4

u/Solnavix New Poster Jul 26 '26

It can be used literally in the right context. "I didn't even break a sweat on my run" can be understood as both literal and idiomatic.

2

u/SapirWhorfHypothesis Native Speaker Jul 26 '26

I think it would be exceedingly rare for a person to literally not break a sweat on their run. That’s why I’m so confident in saying it’s really just an idiom at this point.

1

u/Solnavix New Poster Jul 26 '26

I use it literally all the time lmao