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Updated on 8 Dec 2022

4 Dec 2022

Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

English (UK)
English (US)
French (France)

Question about English (US)

Hello, I would like to ask two questions about the word "anchor".

Can I say "The government enacted this Travel Act, aiming to anchor two countries' relationships."? (To anchor here I am trying to say "to let the two countries become closer, to stay connected"). Does the word anchor has this meaning?

Also, is it correct to say "People should anchor themselves to the world by developing the ability to view and judge things from different perspectives." (Here I mean people should let themselves become more connected to the world.)

Thank you in advance!

Answers

lrika

4 Dec 2022

Featured answer

English (US)

Anchor used in this sense means “to secure,” just as a literal ship’s anchor and chain secures a ship.

“The government enacted this Travel Act, aiming to anchor the relationship between the two countries.”
would be the way to phrase this. You are saying the act is trying to provide a solid base for the relationship between the two countries. This does not specifically mean the countries will become closer and/or stay connected, but that can be inferred as the goal.

As for, “People should anchor themselves to the world by developing the ability to view and judge things from different perspectives,” I would just use “connect” instead of “anchor” here for what you are trying to convey. Your sentence is not wrong, but be aware that “anchor” can also carry the negative nuance of being chained to something. (A negative connotation of being secured to something without choice.)

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Languages77

4 Dec 2022

English (US)

Yes both of these sentences make sense

isthmus_x

4 Dec 2022

English (UK)
English (US)

@vennie7908

1.

The government enacted this Travel Act, aiming to anchor THE two countries' relationships.
- that’s fine

2.

- there’s nothing wrong with the grammar, and if you want to say this, you are perfectly free to. I’m going to point out, however, but it does sound a little bit odd that you talk about having different perspectives, but at the same time are “Anchored to the world“. This is what we call a mixed metaphor – there’s nothing wrong with the meaning, but because we are in the realm of metaphor, it has the unfortunate characteristic of seeming to say opposite things even though it isn’t. I’m just saying – you probably want people to be nodding their heads in agreement when you say this, not laughing at how ridiculous it sounds.

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RedYak

4 Dec 2022

English (US)

Anchor is used correctly in both cases. Anchor does have the meaning of connecting or tying together things.

lrika

4 Dec 2022

English (US)

Anchor used in this sense means “to secure,” just as a literal ship’s anchor and chain secures a ship.

“The government enacted this Travel Act, aiming to anchor the relationship between the two countries.”
would be the way to phrase this. You are saying the act is trying to provide a solid base for the relationship between the two countries. This does not specifically mean the countries will become closer and/or stay connected, but that can be inferred as the goal.

As for, “People should anchor themselves to the world by developing the ability to view and judge things from different perspectives,” I would just use “connect” instead of “anchor” here for what you are trying to convey. Your sentence is not wrong, but be aware that “anchor” can also carry the negative nuance of being chained to something. (A negative connotation of being secured to something without choice.)

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vennie7908

4 Dec 2022

Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

@isthmus_x Thank you!
I didn't notice the mixed metapher in the second sentence. So will it sound more natural if I change "by developing the ability to..." to "and develope the ability to..."? Or is this just a sentence that should be avoided in an English essay?

vennie7908

4 Dec 2022

Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

@lrika Thank you!
Let me be more clear. The first sentence here I want to say "to let the other country be on our side". (also to let the two countries become closer.)

I didn't know that anchor might bear a negative connotation. Does it happen most of the time when we use this word?

isthmus_x

4 Dec 2022

English (UK)
English (US)

@vennie7908

No, I’m just not certain that anchor is the best word to convey your meaning. There’s no reason to become fixated on one word.

You’re trying to say something like, to become a useful and realistic member of society, you should do this etc… Maybe there’s a better way to say it.

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lrika

5 Dec 2022

English (US)

You’re welcome :)

I’m sorry, but I’m still not sure what you mean in your first sentence. Are you including the “us” as one of the two countries?

No, anchor does not always bear a negative connotation. But to be tied to something can be negative, and so sometimes it does.
He never gets a day off. He is anchored to his job.

Anchor as a noun is usually a positive connotation.
I don’t know what I’d do without him. He is my anchor. (Meaning he is someone who is steady and keeps you down to earth.)

Hope that helps.

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vennie7908

5 Dec 2022

Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

@lrika Hi thanks for the explanation!

The first sentence is part of my translation from a Chinese article. The article is roughly about: The U.S. Congress enacted (or passed) Taiwan Travel Act to hope that Taiwan can be on their side, the U.S. and Taiwan can stand together to contain another country. The article also wrote about Taiwan and the U.S. have similar cultural and democratic development .

And my question is about my translation of the opening part. I translated it into: The U.S. government enacted Taiwan Travel Act, aiming to not only coordinate with Taiwan, but also primarily, to "anchor" our relationships since the U.S. and Taiwan share the same values and have had friendly connections for a long time.

And I'd like to make sure whether I use the word anchor correctly here. I have seen similar uses in the Economics, and I think that maybe this word is a good choice to use in a formal article instead of always using words like connect. (Also, to polish my translation and register.)