student asking question

What does "mid-stir" mean? Can I replace "mid-" with "half-"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Mid" here is an adjective used to describe a verb. So "mid-stir" here is an adjective + verb that means in the middle of stirring. You can pair "mid" with many different verbs to express that something happened in the middle of that verb taking place, and the action was interrupted. "Mid" is normally used in the present tense, and you could replace it with the word "half", but this is more common to use in past tense. "Half" also describes something that happened exactly halfway through the action, while "mid" implies that this interruption can occur anytime during the process of the action. Ex: She stopped mid-pour. Ex: Her cup was half-poured.

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