Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[stevenukd]

Dear Teachers,

1. Well, You need a blue sky holiday. The point is they laugh at what you say.
- �blue sky holiday� means �good holiday�, right?

2. We have tons in common, and he�s even more than beautiful.
- I think �more than handsome� is better, right?

3. Is �what am I supposed to do?� the same meaning as �what do I have to do?�? and which is more common?

Thanks a lot to Teachers,

Stevenukd

[damon@English24/7]

1. I don`t know where you live but if it is someplace as cloudy and rainy as Vancouver then blue sky holiday means a holiday in some sunny, tropical destination, preferably with a beach (we conveniently forget hurricanes and typhoons whe we idealise the tropics). I think it is from the popular song "Bad Day," but the songwriter might have heard it somewhere else. So I would say that it means a good holiday in someplace sunny.

2. I don`t think either is better. It is more common to use handsome when referring to men. I wouldn`t describe myself as beautiful (nor would anyone else), most straight (it means not gay) men wouldn`t describe themselves or other men as beautiful, but other people might use beautiful to describe a man. As a general rule when learning English, you are probably right to avoid beautiful when talking about males, but it is not wrong and you should keep that in mind where you see and hear it used that way until you think you are comfortable using it that way.

3. These two sentences are very similar, but not the same. "Have to" means that you must do whatever it is that "do" refers to, whereas with "supposed to" you should do whatever it is that "do" refers to.

damon