conjunction
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
... or wherever (=used to emphasize that you are talking about any place and not a specific place)
▪ Dublin people dress more individually than people in London or wherever.
A dozen or so (=about 12)
▪ A dozen or so cars were parked near the entrance.
and/or above
▪ officers of the rank of Major and above
and/or above
▪ free medical care for pensioners aged 65 and above
▪ Prize winners must have gained marks of 80% or above.
and/or below
▪ free travel for children four years old and below
and/or below
▪ officers of the rank of captain and below
and/or under
▪ Children aged 12 or under must be accompanied by an adult.
better or worse
▪ I wasn’t sure whether his behaviour was getting better or worse.
confirm or deny
▪ Managers have so far refused to confirm or deny reports that up to 200 jobs are to go.
Deal or No Deal
for some reason (or other) (also for some unknown reason) (= for a reason that you do not know)
▪ For some reason she felt like crying.
▪ For some unknown reason, the curtains were always drawn.
if...or not
▪ I’m not sure if this is the right road or not.
knows a thing or two (=knows a lot)
▪ My cousin knows a thing or two about golf.
like it or lump it
▪ It’s the law so you can like it or lump it.
little or no
▪ Many of the students speak little or no English.
little or nothing (=almost nothing)
▪ He knew little or nothing about fixing cars.
no ifs, ands, or buts
▪ He is the best player – no ifs, ands, or buts about that.
of one sort or another (=of various different sorts)
▪ Quite a large number of them suffered injuries of one sort or another.
or alternatively
▪ You can relax on the beach or alternatively try the bustling town centre.
or, even worse
▪ The business could become less profitable or, even worse, could close down.
or not
▪ No one knows if the story is true or not.
or over
▪ Almost 40% of women are size 14 or over.
or some such
▪ She needs to see a psychiatrist or some such person.
or somebody
▪ ‘Who can we get to babysit?’ ‘I’ll call Suzie or somebody.’
or someone
▪ Have Brooks or someone fax this to New York right away.
or somewhere (=or a similar place)
▪ We could meet for dinner at Giorgio’s or somewhere.
or thereabouts
▪ These houses were built in 1930 or thereabouts.
or worse still
▪ Suppose Rose, or worse still, Peter had seen the photograph?
person or persons unknown
▪ murder by person or persons unknown
Rose d'Or, the
some sth or other/another
▪ Just give him some excuse or other.
somehow or other
▪ Maybe we could glue it together somehow or other.
the time or the inclination
▪ Teachers simply do not have the time or the inclination to investigate these matters.
trick or treat
true or false
▪ Please decide whether the following statements are true or false.
(whether) by fair means or foul (=using unfair methods if necessary)
▪ They were determined to achieve victory, by fair means or foul.
whether or not
▪ There were times when I wondered whether or not we would get there.
whether...or not
▪ Look, Kate, I’m calling the doctor, whether you like it or not.
whether...or not
▪ I didn’t know whether to believe him or not.
whether...or
▪ She was uncertain whether to stay or leave.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
(come) rain or shine
▪ Burrow runs two miles, rain or shine, everyday.
▪ Every morning at about 5am, come rain or shine, James Zarei leaves his South Croydon home on his morning run.
▪ He seldom drinks alcohol, never touches drugs, and runs six miles every morning, rain or shine.
▪ I kid you not: each year rain or shine, Californian Poppy.
▪ Scores of rambling and cycling clubs headed remorselessly for the Dales each weekend, come rain or shine.
▪ The working week began every Monday, rain or shine.
(in) one way or another/one way or the other
▪ One way or another, Roberts will pay for what he's done.
▪ As you grow older, some of those uncertainties - such as whether or not you are lovable - are settled one way or another.
▪ But the fact is that the way we live our lives often assumes a belief about them, one way or another.
▪ In one way or another, all these therapies seem to have an effect on the electrical balances of the body.
▪ In one way or another, the representatives will be compared with the total client system.
▪ In one way or another, whatever happened, instinct told him that they would both survive.
▪ Many others were involved in small business issues one way or another.
▪ My gut feeling is that one way or another Congress will pull through.
▪ Then one way or another he would have to deal with Capshaw.
(on) sale or return
▪ All are on full sale on January 23-Knave sale or return from Blackhorse.
▪ All available goods may be taken on a sale or return basis. 9.
▪ Booksellers normally order books on a sale or return basis.
▪ This may be on a sale or return agreement without asking for payment.
▪ What is the position, though, where the buyer resells the goods on sale or return terms?
(whether you) like it or not
▪ You're going to the dentist, whether you like it or not.
... or bust!
... or so
... or something
... or what
... or/and whatever (else)
▪ And the same thing applies to people who have collections of quite valueless things: baskets, keys, hats or whatever.
▪ And then they go and tell their friends that it's either good or bad or whatever.
▪ I was feeling like I had to wrap things up and get dinner for the kids, or whatever.
▪ It favors close-up pictures and whatever can be seen in the immediate foreground.
▪ Learning about landscape design, you know - using natural features, hills or rivers or whatever - and improving on it.
▪ Politics, sexuality or whatever, must be a framework to build on, not a rigid cage which restricts change.
▪ There was a swift flow of air through the room, and whatever it was moved and sat down on the chair.
a matter of life and/or death
a year/a week/a moment/an hour etc or two
an either-or situation
beg, borrow, or steal
▪ The designers would beg, borrow, or steal in order to get the show ready.
believe it or not
▪ Well, believe it or not, we're getting married.
▪ And so, believe it or not, he puts on the magic shoes and limps off to the funeral.
▪ But, believe it or not, neither are the networks.
▪ Lives in the next village, believe it or not.
▪ Name's Virginia, believe it or not.
▪ Now this happened to me again, believe it or not, a year or two later.
▪ She put on her pale-blue linen Jaeger dress and, believe it or not, a little hat.
▪ The eventual headliners, believe it or not, were Mud.
▪ This week, believe it or not, another, almost identical saga began.
by fair means or foul
by hook or by crook
▪ The police are going to get these guys, by hook or by crook.
▪ If she set her mind on something, then she had to acquire it, by hook or by crook.
can't make head or/nor tail of sth
come hell or high water
▪ Come hell or high water, he'd never missed a race and he wasn't going to miss this one.
▪ I'll be there in time. Don't worry. Come hell or high water.
▪ I said I'd do it, so I will, come hell or high water.
▪ My father felt I should stay in my marriage come hell or high water.
▪ She'd come this far to say her piece and say it she would, come hell or high water.
common or garden
do or die
▪ From now on it was do or die.
▪ I learnt in the South Bronx and the way you're taught there is a do or die situation.
▪ It was do or die for me.
▪ No words, no threats, no waste of energy, just a grim determination to do or die.
double or quits
either ... or
▪ A little more cloak and a soup on more dagger. Either that, or he should never try this again.
▪ Few can afford either the calories or the cost of frequent trips to these gourmet candy stores.
▪ For better rates you must operate your account either by post or via the Internet.
▪ Madame, you see, never assumed either ignorance or experience.
▪ Rhubarb with either mint or lemon balm makes a tart, savoury jelly to serve with lamb.
▪ The cases seem either petty or arcane, the investigations tedious or motivated by politics.
▪ Theodora suspected that this was not an exercise that either the Bishop or the Archdeacon had had to perform before.
for better or (for) worse
▪ The reality is that, for better or worse, the world of publishing has changed.
▪ All five, for better or worse, have received recent votes of confidence from their respective general managers or team presidents.
▪ And for better or worse, the new interactivity brings enormous political leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.
▪ And the consequences could be even more startling, for better or for worse.
▪ Decisions made in any of these places can hit our pocketbooks and our peace of mind, for better or for worse.
▪ He has toted the ball and the expectations, for better or worse.
▪ He was her husband ... for better or worse, he was her husband.
▪ Medical students in prolonged contact with junior doctors learn attitudes by example, for better or for worse.
▪ Today we know for better or for worse that cops, like doctors and priests, are merely human.
funny peculiar or funny ha-ha?
give or take a few minutes/a penny/a mile etc
go trick or treating
it's all or nothing
▪ The deal is all or nothing.
▪ It's all or nothing and being strong enough to take the flak if things go wrong.
▪ It's all or nothing with her.
it's now or never
▪ Twoflower, I thought, it's now or never.
kill or cure
▪ The spring Budget, therefore, will be kill or cure.
like it or lump it
make or break
▪ A scholarly opinion can make or break a picture, as in the case of a Saraceni which we sold in 1989.
▪ He also said the board has the power to make or break a project.
▪ It could make or break with vibration or thermal expansion as the machine warmed up.
▪ It was make or break for us.
▪ Not only does it influence whether or not you fork out the requisite 65p, it can make or break a band.
▪ Royal watchers say the 47-year-old prince recognizes it is make or break time for him personally.
▪ Though generally they are only out by one grade, that can be make or break for some.
▪ Whether for dress or athletics, the fit of the shoe can also make or break a pair of feet.
more or less
▪ "Did they have what you were looking for at the hardware store?" "Yes, more or less."
▪ There were 50 people there, more or less.
▪ This report says more or less the same thing as the previous one.
▪ What she says is more or less true.
▪ Alexei was a mining engineer in the Kuzbas, but he had more or less refashioned himself into a translator.
▪ And then I was using it more or less daily for years ....
▪ As things are, it's more or less useless.
▪ Lesbians, being women, were more or less ignored as in-consequential so long as they were quiet about their sexuality.
▪ Look also for R Centauri, a red Mira-type variable more or less between the Pointers.
▪ Some programs will let you set the size of the buffer to keep more or less text.
▪ The Trilogy helped create this new man of labor, who is more or less a paralegal.
▪ This time she saw pebbles laid out over the whole of the surface, more or less evenly spaced.
night or day/day or night
no rhyme or reason
▪ It claims that there is no rhyme or reason to stock-market investment.
▪ There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the colors.
not for love or/nor money
▪ I can't get a hold of that book for love nor money.
▪ And you still can't get a good daily woman now to clean, not for love or money.
not in any shape or form
not in any way, shape, or form
▪ I am not responsible for his actions in any way, shape, or form.
not know whether to laugh or cry
▪ When the whole cake fell off the table, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
not know whether you are coming or going
▪ Andre's so in love he doesn't know whether he's coming or going.
once or twice
▪ Once or twice, he thought about calling his parents, but then decided not to.
▪ And you have once or twice, haven't you?
▪ Even he himself had had to beat it into the ground once or twice as one did a snake.
▪ He'd been smashed on booze once or twice, but this was different.
▪ He played for Northern Ireland once or twice.
▪ He swallowed hard once or twice.
▪ He was some one I would probably sleep with once or twice and then maybe become friends with afterward.
▪ If needed, this can be repeated once or twice.
▪ They merely mentioned it once or twice as a divine possibility.
one ... or another
▪ At least 50 percent of the Soviet budget in one form or another goes to the military defense complex.
▪ Besides, he got his point across, one way or another, and usually in Chicago style.
▪ It featured more than five locos in steam at one time or another.
▪ Other speakers adapt to far more, perhaps to most of them, at one time or another.
▪ Some twenty percent of all Oscar-winning actors, actresses and directors have been married to each other at one time or another.
▪ The plates slide toward one direction or another and, inevitably, their ridges move off the hot spots that found them.
▪ Three, in one form or another, are still in the budget bill passed by Congress and vetoed by President Clinton.
▪ To enhance our chances of making such discoveries many of us use maps of one kind or another.
one or two
▪ "Do you have any Bob Dylan albums?" "Yes, one or two."
▪ I only know the names of one or two of the new students.
▪ There are one or two things I'd like to ask you about.
▪ There are one or two things to sort out before I leave.
▪ We've had one or two problems with the car but nothing serious.
▪ Accommodation Accommodation is in one or two bedroom apartments, about 300 to 400 yds from the sailing beach.
▪ Eventually, this area should be able to support one or two satellite offices.
▪ For the tall man, the lie should be one or two degrees more upright.
▪ In one or two places, Jasper had to pull me up between the rocks.
▪ Let us start with one or two fundamentals.
▪ Ten of the 13 previous meetings between the Braves and Marlins were decided by one or two runs.
▪ The statements should be listed, one or two sentences for each.
▪ There were one or two escapees from within his group, however.
or anything
▪ And when they came back they wouldn't have an excuse or anything.
▪ Clothing can not be washed, or anything else done...
▪ He's not my boyfriend or anything, but he looks after me.
▪ I have my idols, too, but they tend to be real people, not film stars or anything.
▪ It was great, and then it was two months before a video came out or anything.
▪ Just one lone ancestor standing in the spotlight without anyone or anything else the current generation can blame.
▪ Not esquire, sir, lord or anything like that.
▪ Tony didn't have time to waste booking him as a support act or doing a club circuit or anything like that.
or else
▪ Get me my money by next week or else.
▪ It must be important, or else he wouldn't have called at 3 a.m.
▪ They must have thought everything was safe, or else they would have warned us.
▪ All the characters would find decisions much easier if evil were unquestionably either just Boethian or else just Manichaean.
▪ He seemed to want to help them or else his plan was much deeper than they knew.
▪ He thought you had to be a model or a dancer, or else something in showbiz.
▪ He was bright and alive, and made those around him live more vividly or else move on.
▪ He would make that clear, or else he would have no part in the raid.
▪ Some of them continued to pursue him, or else Orestes thought that they did.
▪ The bolder innovation comes direct by rescript from the emperor or else is a result of his influence.
▪ The old masters merely dammed streams and created lakes to break up the landscape or else reflect its beauty.
or otherwise
▪ I can't see any advantage in changing my job - financially or otherwise.
▪ Advisedly or otherwise, the Regent Douglas was doing as he had part-proposed.
▪ Every haulier, wittingly or otherwise, will become involved to some extent in Customs 88 procedures.
▪ I too wanted to stand, silent or otherwise, upon that peak in Darién.
▪ Many factors contribute to the effectiveness or otherwise of the various techniques.
▪ Prizes must be accepted as offered, there can be no alternative awards, cash or otherwise.
▪ Regional variations - Gallican or otherwise - were disapproved, whether liturgical, theological or pastoral.
▪ Space is devoted in the final chapter to considerations of the mentalism, or otherwise, of metrical structures.
▪ The lower limit to transition even for very large disturbances is provided by the growth or otherwise of slugs.
or rather
▪ But he'd had that last night - or rather, in the small hours of the morning.
▪ But puberty, or rather the onset of menstruation, changed all that.
▪ Here comes the post, or rather the copter.
▪ I was usually the active partner, or rather it was usually I who initiated a kiss or an embrace.
▪ It is fear, or rather fears, that I want to speak about in this book.
▪ It is related to the hedgehog, or rather it belongs to the same family of insectivores.
▪ It was really my doing, or rather my drawings, that had brought us to this brink.
▪ Now I have asked Deborah whether I may speak with her son or rather listen to him.
plus or minus
▪ Dealings take place at the price quoted plus or minus days' accrued interest.
▪ It is consistent to within a value of plus or minus one, which is quite acceptable for a rough bound.
▪ The margin of error is plus or minus one percent.
▪ The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
▪ Total return is interest earnings plus or minus any change in principal value.
▪ Typical instructions in this class increment or decrement an accumulator; here the implied value is plus or minus one.
put up or shut up
rightly or wrongly
▪ Rightly or wrongly, most employees regard annual raises as just cost-of-living increases.
▪ But, rightly or wrongly, Eden's tenure in Downing Street is remembered as a single-issue premiership.
▪ His unexpected presence may be interpreted, rightly or wrongly, as a deed deliberately intended to express his courage or defiance.
▪ Many men believed, whether rightly or wrongly, that the locals could find out about operations before they themselves did.
▪ Other people concluded, rightly or wrongly, that the problems were limited to vaccine coming from Cutter.
sb can take it or leave it
▪ As for the moody magnetism Method actors devote all their energy trying to perfect, Allen can take it or leave it.
▪ To others, they can take it or leave it.
shape up or ship out
sink or swim
▪ Some people advocate leaving the jobless to sink or swim.
▪ A case of sink or swim.
▪ But it is a collective machine because they all sink or swim with her.
▪ It was sink or swim as a classroom teacher.
▪ Now it was sink or swim.
▪ Only one person really cared whether he sank or swam, and he was far off in Paris.
▪ She had been thrown in at the deep end and it was a question of sink or swim.
▪ The Ohio bank does not leave its newcomers to sink or swim by themselves.
▪ When a promising apprentice loses his claim it is usually sink or swim time.
something/someone/somewhere etc or other
▪ Almost all our citizens are indicted for something or other.
▪ Calls himself Jack something or other.
▪ He did it not because he liked people that night but to make a moral point about something or other.
▪ Iris is off somewhere or other for the next few days.
▪ It was decided by someone or other that we would stay out at Lima with the grunts.
▪ Later on, we were on another job, looking after a defence minister from somewhere or other.
▪ Nineteen fifty something or other convertible.
▪ Somebody else got a chocolate something or other.
sooner or later
▪ Sooner or later this would end up in the papers, and I would be out of a job.
▪ He is worried that sooner or later his business will fail.
▪ I'm sure Brian will turn up sooner or later.
▪ She's bound to find out sooner or later.
stand or fall by/on sth
▪ But the argument must stand or fall on its merits.
▪ For the government, acceptance of central planning did not stand or fall on the issue of nationalisation.
▪ It seems that this is a case that will stand or fall on its own particular facts.
▪ Mr Karimov knows that he will stand or fall on his ability to stave off economic collapse.
▪ The school has an outstanding and deserved reputation, which will stand or fall by the testimony of its pupils.
▪ The storyline was always going to stand or fall by the performance of Tim Guinee as Lazar.
▪ The success of the new News at Ten will stand or fall on his relationship with the seven million plus viewers.
▪ Their case would stand or fall on her reliability.
take/bring sb down a peg (or two)
▪ No harm in taking Evans down a peg.
teach/show sb a trick or two
▪ Experienced teachers can teach new teachers a trick or two.
to a greater or lesser extent
▪ All of us, to a greater or lesser extent, have been doing this all our lives.
▪ All polite exchanges are conventional to a greater or lesser extent.
▪ All societies differentiate and, to a greater or lesser extent, allocate unequal rewards on the basis of age.
▪ Both historians proceed to a greater or lesser extent by way of discussion of great photographers.
▪ Different professional institutions may define to a greater or lesser extent the modes and their mix.
▪ In these cases A is to a greater or lesser extent unclear, ambiguous.
▪ They also, to a greater or lesser extent, existed outside mainstream, predominantly male controlled, hierarchical structures.
▪ With every formal organisation there exists, to a greater or lesser extent, a complex informal organisation.
which came first, the chicken or the egg?
win or lose
▪ Win or lose, the future looks bright for Jones.
▪ Aside from team coordination, tactics play a huge part in determining whether you are on the winning or losing side.
▪ Dole is going to win or lose the election on his own.
▪ I may win or lose, but the way of life is easy and it loves me.
▪ The machines nauseate me whether I win or lose.
▪ They decide whether you win or lose.
without fear or favour
▪ He had some home truths to impart and presented them without fear or favour.
▪ Now near retirement after a long career in product development, Mr Dulude can presumably act without fear or favour.
without let or hindrance
▪ Instead of the passport opening frontiers to the traveller without let or hindrance, it has become the means of international surveillance.
▪ It should flow easily, though not too swiftly, through the manholes, without let or hindrance.
▪ The willingness to thin the office staff without let or hindrance.
▪ Truth, however tawdry or trivial, may be told without let or hindrance from libel laws.