we were getting to him

<b> Forum for those teaching business English </b>

Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2

Post Reply
Itasan
Posts: 557
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:22 am
Location: Yokohama, Japan

we were getting to him

Post by Itasan » Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:23 am

"He started crying -- we were getting to him."
I wonder what we were acutally doing.
What does 'get to' mean in this case?

Thank you.

eslweb
Posts: 208
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 1:46 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Bullying

Post by eslweb » Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:39 am

Itasan,

I can think of two scenarios, either:

1. They were bullying him.
2. They wanted to make him feel guilty.

James

User avatar
BradC
Posts: 23
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:55 pm
Contact:

Post by BradC » Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:34 am

In this case, "getting to him" means they found the key to making him upset. If, for example, someone thinks he is very intelligent, you would "get to him" by showing him he is not as smart as he thinks he is.

Post Reply