Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to All:   
      
   ak>  -----Beginning of the citation-----   
   ak>     "Here," he said. "We go on through here. The entrance   
   ak>  is concealed." Harry did not ask how Dumbledore knew. He   
   ak>  had never seen a wizard work things out like this, simply   
   ak>  by looking and touching; but Harry had long since learned   
   ak>  that bangs and smoke were more often the marks of ineptitude   
   ak>  than expertise.   
   ak>  -----The end of the citation-----   
      
      
             Yes, expertise is often taken for granted because the expert makes   
   whatever s/he is doing *look* so easy.  Harry is smart enough to realize his   
   mentor takes things into account which he may not have noticed... [chuckle].   
      
      
      
   ak>  It seems that "things out" is a verb and it has the   
   ak>  similar meaning to "looks".   
      
      
             As I imagine you've worked out by now:   
      
              *  "work" is a verb here -- yes, in the infinitive form   
      
              *  "things" is a noun, direct object of the verb in this example   
      
              *  "out" is an adverb which operates, together with the verb, to   
                  alter the meaning of the latter just enough to confuse folks   
                  from SomePlace Else (& many native speakers of English too).   
      
      
             My English/English dictionaries include combinations such as "work   
   off", "work on", and "work out" at the end of a long entry including umpteen   
   definitions for "work" by itself.  The components seem so deceptively simple   
   that bilingual dictionaries may omit them in order to conserve space, or the   
   reader may think s/he already knows what these phrases mean.   
      
             I am reminded of how, as a student of French, I sweated blood over   
   ordinary everyday words which had numerous definitions.  OTOH I can use some   
   polysyllabic Latin-based word in E_T & my Russian friends don't miss a beat.   
   Chances are they've studied Latin... or if not they will see only one or two   
   definitions when they look up the word.  There, in a nutshell, is why I have   
   difficulty with the idea that a small or severely limited vocabulary makes a   
   language easier to learn.  In daily life I must make distinctions like this:   
      
      
    M.  Sally Forth (i.e. a cartoon character whose name is a pun, if you think   
        about it) is working at the gym.   
      
    N.  I understood she had some paid employment, but didn't know what her job   
        was.  Is she a receptionist, a cleaning woman, Ms. Fix-It, or what... ?   
      
                                        ...   
      
    M.  Sally Forth is working out at the gym because she is hoping to work off   
        the extra weight she gained during the Christmas season.   
      
    N.  Ah.  Sally isn't getting paid $$$ for her work... she is paying for the   
        privilege of using the equipment which the gym has to offer & which she   
        doesn't have at home.  Now we are into quite a different scenario.  :-)   
      
      
             Similarly, after *thinking through* the careful observations which   
   he'd already made, Dumbledore managed to *figure out* how to open the secret   
   entrance.  No pyrotechnics needed.  Just wake up & smell the coffee....  ;-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)