Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[stevenukd]

Dear Teachers,

1. What�s the difference between �have a crush on someone� and �fall in love with someone�?

2. Does �sure thing!� always mean �of course!�?

Thanks a lot to Teachers,

Stevenukd

[CP]

1. You can have a crush on a movie star, someone you don't even know, but not really fall in love with him or her. Children get past the stage of ignoring or disdaining children of the opposite sex, and they start to like someone, maybe having a crush on someone special. But they are too young to really fall in love. A girl may have a crush on her teacher; a boy may have a crush on his friend's sister. We call it "infatuation," and it can turn into love, or it can just fade away and become a fond memory.

2. It does mean "of course," as well as all the substitutes for "of course":

without fail: "Will you mail this for me?" "Sure thing."

you can count on me: "I really need some help." "Sure thing."

absolutely; positively: "Do you really love Sally?" "Sure thing."

It can even be used in place of "You're welcome." "Thanks for letting me borrow your bike." "Sure thing."

When you want to say that something is certain to occur, you can call it "a sure thing." "At the final stage of the race, with a 59-second lead over Oscar Pereira, Floyd Landis's victory in the Tour de France was a sure thing."
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[IrinaMIV]

Dear CP, tell me please, could I use the only word "sure" without "thing" in all that meanings? Thank you

[iitimone7]

irina - yes, you can...iitimone7

[CP]

Actually, you should say "surely" rather than "sure," but you might hear either one in conversation. Both of them mean "of course" in the first four sentences that I gave as examples.

However, you would not say "a sure" rather than "a sure thing" when using it as a noun (my last example sentence).
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[iitimone7]

irina - when you use a word or phrase instead of 'of course', you can use the word ' sure' without saying 'sure thing'.

you cannot ever say 'surely thing' - that's what the question was

[CP]

"you cannot ever say 'surely thing' - that's what the question was"

I didn't realize that was the question. In case I was unclear, I agree with Iitimone7 that you can say, in answer to those questions,

"Surely."

"Sure."

"Sure thing."

But never "surely thing."
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[redset]

Just bear in mind, if someone asks you if you love them and you reply 'sure' they may get a little upset - they'd probably be expecting 'absolutely!!' or 'of course!', or at least a 'yes'