vocabulary

[hela]

Dear teachers,

1) Is there a difference between « at last » and « finally » and “arrive” and “come” in the following sentence? Which is best?

Tom has been waiting for Tim for an hour. Finally / At last, he comes / arrives.

(if you used “at last” would you put it in the end of the sentence or it wouldn’t make any difference as for the style?)

2) Does “a brave attempt” mean “a good try” ? Otherwise does the adjective brave mean only “daring, courageous”?

3) Would you use the noun “youngsters” to mean “young people” in this sentence?

I met very nice youngsters / young people during my holidays.

4) Is there a difference in use between “appointment” and “rendezvous” in English or are they perfect synonyms?

5) What would be more idiomatic in English to say “you know me” or “you know the way I am” or “you know how I am”?

6) Which adjective would you use in the following sentence “At the café I met a lonely / on her own / by herself woman who looked very sad” or “I met a woman alone who looked very sad”?

7) How would you translate “avec mon GRAND ami” = my best /great friend ? or something else?

Thanks a million,
Hela

[danmahaffey]

1) Is there a difference between « at last » and « finally » and “arrive” and “come” in the following sentence? Which is best?

Tom has been waiting for Tim for an hour. Finally / At last, he comes / arrives.

(if you used “at last” would you put it in the end of the sentence or it wouldn’t make any difference as for the style?)Finally and at last can be interchanged. However, finally suggests the end of a series of events; at last suggests the end of a period of time. So it is with arrive and come, but arrive indicates completion of the journey.

It's tricky to analyze word order for its impact on the reader, and it's even harder to devise a word order strategy in advance. That said, At last he arrives, sounds relaxed and more narrative, and He arrives at last, sounds abrupt and more like stage directions. It shifts the focus from the arrival moment to the arrival (and person arriving).

To be consistent in style throughout, I would rewrite the first sentence this way, Tim has been delaying Tom for an hour, to match the second sentence, He arrives at last.

2) Does “a brave attempt” mean “a good try” ? Otherwise does the adjective brave mean only “daring, courageous”?My dictionary includes "a fine display" as one of its meanings of brave. This is enough latitude to allow a brave attempt to mean a good try.

3) Would you use the noun “youngsters” to mean “young people” in this sentence?

I met very nice youngsters / young people during my holidays.You can use youngster to mean children older than toddler and not much older than very early grammar school (ages 4 to 9 approximately) and be safe. You have to call the other children older than 9 young people. When you're my age, everybody younger than 30 is a youngster. :rolleyes:

4) Is there a difference in use between “appointment” and “rendezvous” in English or are they perfect synonyms?Sorry, not perfect, and not always close. Appointment, assignation, rendezvous, engagement, date, and tryst are all synonyms, to one extent or another. My dictionary gives this illustration:These nouns denote a commitment to appear at a certain time and place: a business engagement; a dental appointment; a secret assignation; a date to play tennis; a rendezvous of agents at the border; a lovers' tryst.
5) What would be more idiomatic in English to say “you know me” or “you know the way I am” or “you know how I am”?You know me is often the way it is said, spoken with the emphasis on me. The other two sentences are just fine also. Put the emphasis on the word am.

6) Which adjective would you use in the following sentence “At the café I met a lonely / on her own / by herself woman who looked very sad” or “I met a woman alone who looked very sad”?I like your first sentence: At the café I met a lonely woman who looked very sad. (In America, we don't keep accent marks in words we completely adopt into English, like cafe or resume. If your teacher requires it, or if you are more comfortable with it, continue to use the accent.)

7) How would you translate “avec mon GRAND ami” = my best /great friend ? or something else?"With a flying blue banana." (That was a joke.) My French is just poor enough that I like the translation with my great friend. I think that the word for best here is meilleur, but you'll need to find a better authority than me.

[hela]

Thank you VERY MUCH, Dan. You're extremely helpful!

As for question 4: I didn't know that we could use "date" with that meaning = appointment with a friend for casual activities. I thought that it was only used with lovers, boy/girl friends.

question 6: Is the difference between "AT the cafe" and "IN the cafe" that "at" means the place where he was, and "in" means actually "inside"? So in this sentence it should definitely be "at", right?

Would you please tell me when do you consider "delay" and "holiday" countable or uncountable?

All the best :)

[danmahaffey]

At can include in, if the context makes it clear. Here, I assumed in.

Simply, they are countable when there are more than one.
Staff, your holidays must be scheduled around our busy shipping season.
Delays can be expected due to unexpected snowfall.Hope this helps.

[hela]

Hello Dan,

I didn't quite understand your point here At can include in, if the context makes it clear. Here, I assumed in.

Do you mean that in the following sentence "at" is correct and can mean "in"?
"At the cafe I met a lone woman who looked very sad"

See you :)

[danmahaffey]

Indeed. :)

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Indeed. :)

Hi Dan just to add an idea: finally often suggests relief.
At a cafe views the cafe as a meeting point rather than spatially.
Best
Jamshid

[danmahaffey]

Finally (!) a discerning answer. :cool:

[hela]

"Tom has been waiting for Tim in the library for an hour. Finally / At last, he comes / arrives."

"finally" often suggests relief. isn't it the same for "at last"?
Dan said that "arrives" suggests the end of a journey. But in the sentence above are both verbs ok, or is there a better one?

Have a nice Sunday!

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

No, I believe at last is more neutral. Maybe you are confusing it with other languages. Come and arrive are different. First arrive is more formal register (French origin) and of course the meaning is different.

[hela]

So what verb would you use in my sentence above, please?

2 more questions please:
a) Why do we use "that" and not "this" in the following example?
b) Would you use an article here or not? If not, would you please tell me why?

Client: Do you have this dress in blue, size 8?
Seller: We have it in blue, but not in that size -and there will be two
weeks’ delay before we get X / the new stock.

All the best

[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

So what verb would you use in my sentence above, please?

2 more questions please:
a) Why do we use "that" and not "this" in the following example?
b) Would you use an article here or not? If not, would you please tell me why?

Client: Do you have this dress in blue?
Seller: We have it in blue, but not in that size -and there will be two
weeks’ delay before we get X / the new stock.

All the best

1. "Arrive" is the verb because the meaning is "get to" as Dan said whereas the action of travelling is in "come".
2. "This" is used when you point at sth (used much less) than "that" as in reported speech "this" is changed to "that".
3. Zero article is used unless you refer to specific stock. In your sentence it is not clear but I have the impression it is general (not specific) sense intended.

[danmahaffey]

To amplify Dr. Ibrahim's answer:

This refers to the dress, perhaps held in the hand of the sales clerk, and recognizes closeness: but not in this size.

That distances the dress from the sales clerk, in space or emotionally: but not in that size.

As for the definite article, its absence makes new stock an abstract noun phrase (the idea of new stock). Its use makes the new stock refer to particular new dresses.

In summary, no word choice here is wrong. I comes down to intent, clarity and diction. As some wag once suggested, say what you mean; mean what you say.

[SomeOne]

"With a flying blue banana." (That was a joke.)

I'm sorry, it's maybe a stupid question, but could you explain the origin of this joke to me, please? Does it have any relation to a flying superhero called Bananaman? (it was just the first thing came to my mind, because he is flying and he is dressed in blue and yellow "banana suit" :))

Thanks!

[danmahaffey]

The French translation was clearly easy enough that I rendered it as nonsense, like, You have a sandwich in your parking lot, just for a little fun with Hela.:D

[SomeOne]

The French translation was clearly easy enough that I rendered it as nonsense, like, You have a sandwich in your parking lot, just for a little fun with Hela.

It's still difficult for me to understand this. That's because I'm not a native english speaker and I don't even know the language good enough to get these refinements. :(

[danmahaffey]

I'm sorry. I made a silly translation of French into nonsense English for fun. You could translate French into nonsense words in your language and have a joke with your friends, couldn't you? How would you do it?

[Rusty]

I'm sorry, it's maybe a stupid question, but could you explain the origin of this joke to me, please? Does it have any relation to a flying superhero called Bananaman? (it was just the first thing came to my mind, because he is flying and he is dressed in blue and yellow "banana suit" )

Thanks!
Don't worry, SomeOne. I didn't understand Dan's joke either. :rolleyes:

[Nastik]

Hello!
To my mind the meaning of this joke is the nonsence.
For example: -With whom can I go to the party? -With a flying blue banana.
This joke mean -with whom you want, it doesn`t matter, as you wish and so on.

It`s my opinion, I can be wrong.
/Nastya