"be" and "play"
In my vocabulary book. An example is: Mr. Lee, a male chauvinist, won't abase himself so far as to play second fiddle to a female director.
wheater the "play" can turned into "be" or not?
Thanks! :-)

在我的單字課本中，有一個例子是：”Mr. Lee, a male chauvinist, won't abase himself so far as to play second fiddle to a female director.”
play 是否可以換成be呢？
謝謝

Question

"be" and "play"
In my vocabulary book. An example is: Mr. Lee, a male chauvinist, won't abase himself so far as to play second fiddle to a female director.
wheater the "play" can turned into "be" or not?
Thanks! :-)

在我的單字課本中，有一個例子是：”Mr. Lee, a male chauvinist, won't abase himself so far as to play second fiddle to a female director.”
play 是否可以換成be呢？
謝謝

Answer

The phrase is "to play second fiddle". You can't replace the verb with "be" in this phrase.

Answer

In case of replacing there will be minor change to the sentence structure as follows : 
" won't abase himself as far as to be a female's director second fiddle . "

Answer

A second fiddle is anorher instrument being in harmony with a first played fiddle , in the idiomatic sense second fiddle is used as an expression and means being a subordinate to someone else . Being a second fiddle or playing a second fiddle could both be used in this context to convey the same meaning . 加油 :)

Answer

A fiddle is a musical instrument (a violin).  One plays a musical instrument, which is why "play" is used in this expression.

Answers · 5

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