Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[luciaC]

1. What�s new? How do you answer it?
2. I was on my boss way, so he asked me if I wanted to go to the caf� with him.
3. My size is normal is my country. However, in America, I am petite.
4. Don�t ever change your name.
5. I will be faint. I will be fainted.
6. Let�s wrap up the meeting. Let�s wind up the meeting. Let�s call the meeting off. Are they all the same?
7. One reason is the nearly 2000 people have died in Iraq.
8. I s it a healthy food?


What do they mean?
9. The class was hectic.
10. Do I serve you right?
11. You are like a peach/ a pepper/ a stew.
12. He is not coming ever. Does that mean he is quitting the job?
13. I need to catch up with him.
_________________
Mimi

[Brian Boyd]

Hi Mimi

I don't understand what exactly you're asking in a lot of those, but here are a few answers...

1. If somone asks 'what's new?' they mean 'what have you been doing recently?' or 'what's new in your life?' or 'what have I missed while I was away?' you can reply by telling them something important or interesting that happened recently.

5. Faint is a verb - I will faint. She fainted. I think I'm going to faint. (it means to pass out, to lose consciouness - sometimes people faint if they are tired, if they are shocked, if they are scared, if they are too hot)

Faint can also be an adjective ... I feel faint (I feel like I will pass out soon, I need to sit down, I need to have a drink of water).

6. 'wrap up' and 'wind up' are the same. They both mean 'bring it to a finish', 'end it'. But 'call off' means cancel. If you wrap a meeting up, that means the meeting is nearly finished and it's time to go home. If you call a meeting off, the meeting hasn't started yet and you cancel it before it begins.

13. I need to catch up with him means I haven't seen him for a while, so I want to find out his news. What has he been doing since the last time i saw him?

[bud]

2. ... on my Boss's way...

3. ... in my country... (a typo, i think. otherwise fine.)

4. good

7. either, "... is that nearly 2000..." or "... is the nearly 2000 people that have..."

8. Yes, if you are trying to ensure that the food is not unhealthy. If it is a food that is marketed as a healthy food, then, "Is it a health food?" is more likely.

9. good

10. Hmm... I'm not sure what you are trying to say, but consider:
Did I serve you right/correctly?
or... Am I serving you right/correctly?

11. Any of them would make sense in a proper context, but none are common expressions that I know of. There is an expression, "You are a peach!" That means that you are cherished in some way. Maybe the person thinks you're unusually sweet, very likable, or whatever.

12. It would depend on the context. Yes if someone is saying that on your job about a co-worker.

13. Most likely it means what Brian said. In some cases, though, it could mean to catch up to him in a physical way. Maybe he just headed to the boss's office to report something that you just found out is untrue. You want to catch up to him so that he will not see the boss.