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    Language lab

    match / fit / concur / suit - what's most "precise"?

    Topic

    match / fit / concur / suit - what's most "precise"?

    Comment
    Which of these verbs has the connotation of being the best or most "precise" fit?

    match, fit, concur, suit... or yet another word?

    I'm describing data, which fits to different degrees what researchers have hypothesized. So I want to vary my vocabulary a bit :o) ... but also want to convey the right idea of how well particular findings do or don't match/fit/concur with/suit the predictions/concepts/notions/what has been hypothesized...

    Follow-up question: Does "to suit" have the connotation of being convenient? Or can I really use it just like the others to say, e.g., that "The findings suit the concept proposed by Smith & Meyer"?
    AuthorThe Big Matcher13 Mar 10, 19:38
    Comment
    No, 'suit' usually has a person as the object, more like jmdm. passen (= gefallen) or zu jmdm. passen (= richtig sein).

    'Concur with' often has a person as the subject, e.g., you concur with someone's opinion. It could work in your last sentence, but it wouldn't be my first choice in general with a thing (data) as the subject. 'Coincide with' or 'correspond to' might work in some contexts; the former is more random, more by chance, a lucky match, the latter is more neutrally descriptive.

    'Match' is usually more 1:1 than 'fit,' but either one could be used for data. You can make the data fit a hypothesis, but you can't force them to match if they don't match. That is, fit is more like adapt to, explain the logical connection so that it makes sense, is plausible; but match is more like if you had an actual second set of data for direct comparison, perhaps the ideal hypothetical set as generated/predicted by a computer model vs. the empirically observed set as generated by experimental observation, lab tests, etc. But there's some overlap; there are probably contexts where either one would be okay.

    Hard to say more specifically than that without a few sample sentences; maybe someone else will have other ideas.

    #1Author hm -- us (236141) 13 Mar 10, 20:03
    Comment
    Weitere Möglichkeiten:
    to tally with
    to support
    to be in line with

    evtl. mit einem Wort wie largely, broadly, to a certain/ large/ small extent/degree usw.
    #2Author Robuk (644349) 13 Mar 10, 21:44
    Comment
    Thanks, you're awesome, as always! :o)

    I somehow have no feel at all for "to tally with". (I assume that means it's not used in my field, but well.) Are the following correct?

    - The pattern of the present study tallies with the predictions / the conceptualization of Smith & Myer.
    - Variable X strongly predicted variable Y, tallying with the view forwarded in previous research by Smith & Myer.
    - The present data tally with the results of Smith & Myer insofar as they...

    And how would you compare "to be in line with" to "match" and "fit"? Is that the most "neutral" expression, whereas "fit" and "match" imply a better fit?
    match > fit > tally with > in line with ?
    (and alternatively support & corroborate)

    Again, thanks a lot for your help! Having more alternatives to express something makes writing so much easier (and quicker)!
    #3AuthorThe Big Match-Maker14 Mar 10, 01:25
    Comment
    I think I'd say (I sort of like "concur" for this):

    -- perfectly fit/match the ...
    -- strongly concur with the ...
    -- highly correspond to the ...
    -- extremely closely fit with ...

    That somewhat concurs with others' ideas. ;-)

    FWIW
    #4Authortaug14 Mar 10, 07:09
    Comment
    taug, have you adopted yet another nick??
    #5Author penguin (236245) 14 Mar 10, 07:12
     
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