Smoking means breathing in tobacco smoke from cigarettes, pipes or cigars: No smoking means you must not smoke here. It isn't a man's formal evening jacket worn with a bow tie: in Britain that's a dinner jacket, and in the US a tuxedo, or tux for short.
smoking: will you get the meaning right?
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give up / quit + smoking; No smoking; a smoking area; smoking + is banned/isn't allowed + in/on + place; wear + a dinner jacket (BrE) / a tuxedo (AmE), not a smoking
- My dad gave up smoking ten years ago and now goes running every morning.
- Smoking isn't allowed anywhere on the train, including the toilets.
- The hotel has a small smoking area outside, next to the car park.
What changed
First versionAt the wedding, the groom wore a black smoking and a bow tie.
RevisionAt the wedding, the groom wore a black dinner jacket and a bow tie.
In several languages the formal evening jacket is called a smoking, but in English the word only means using tobacco. The groom wore a black smoking makes no sense to a native speaker: you can't wear smoking. The right word is dinner jacket, or tuxedo in American English.
If an invitation says black tie, that's the dress code for exactly this jacket: men come in a dinner jacket or tuxedo with a black bow tie. The even stricter white tie means a tailcoat: The invitation says white tie, so I'll need a tailcoat.
Your turn
The invitation said black tie, so Mark hired a ___ for the evening.
Show the answer
tuxedo — Black tie on an invitation means a dinner jacket, which in American English is a tuxedo. Smoking means using tobacco, and you can't hire it for the evening.
Describe the smoking rules at a place you often go to: your workplace, university or home. Say where smoking is banned and where it's allowed.
At my office, smoking is banned inside the building, but people can smoke in a small area behind the car park.
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