Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[stevenukd]

Dear Teachers,

1. First of all I think Internet relationships are risky at best.
- What does �at best� mean here?

2. I never feel regret about what I do, even the results do not go my way.
- Is this natural?

3. I�m a shopkeeper, and when the customer gives me the credit card, I�ll say these, right?
- Sorry, it doesn�t work.
- Sorry this credit card doesn�t work.
- Sorry, there�s no money left in your credit card, do you have another one?

Thanks a lot to Teachers,

Stevenukd

[hitori2k6]

Stevenukd,

In your example, " First of all I think Internet relationships are risky at best".

"At best" means "under the best of conditions" or "under the best of
circumstances".

example #2
"I never feel regret about what I do, even the results do not go my way".

In this example, everything is ok except, you'd really want to say
"I never feel regret about when I do, even *if* the results do not
go my way".
Or you can also say " I never feel regret about what I do, even *when* the results do not go my way".

With example #3, probably the best thing to say would be
"I'm sorry, there seems to be a problem with the credit card.
Do you have another...?"

Or "I'm sorry. Your credit card was not accepted. Do you have
another form of payment?"

When someone's credit card is declined, it can often be very
embarrasing or awkward both for the card holder and the
merchant. So by using some tact, it can often lighten the
situation by not being too blunt or direct.

I hope this helps