Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[luciaC]

What do they mean?

1. spill into the river
2.toxic slick
3. den
4. window box
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Mimi

[bud]

1. To flow (by accident) into the river, usually from a ship or barge or from an offshore facility.

2. When there has been a spill into a body of water, you can see where the polutant is. That's the oil slick or the toxic slick.

3. A den is a room in a home that is often similar to an office. There is probably a desk, some bookshelves, a sofa or two. But it's not well-defined. Some people use the word to describe a small, informal living room - a room where you might go to realx and read a book or have a quiet conversation. (Also, for some animals, we call their home a den. For example, a lion's den.)

4. A window box is for planting flowers. It is postioned just below the window on the outside of the house. Usually it runs the length of the window and is about 8" (8 inches, or 20 centimeters) deep.

[river1974]

[bud]

"It extends from one side of the window to the other," is the meaning. Interesting observation, River. I didn't even think about that when I wrote it - that the less-known meaning of "run" may be confusing.

By the way, my use of "deep" was also confusing. What I meant for "deep" is from front to back. But for a window box, one would think "deep" describes from top to bottom. Anyway, a typical window box runs the length of the window, is about 8" from top to bottom, and about 8" from front to back.

English! Go figure!

[river1974]

Thanks bud. Now I can imagine what a window box looks like!

[bud]

Hmm... I also should have said, "... runs the width of the window,.."

Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words: