Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[stevenukd]

Dear Teachers,

1. If you were raised with good morals, you will step up to the plate and take responsibility for what you now know was a mistake.
- What does �step up to the plate� mean here?

2. You should be up front with your girlfriend and let her know you�re the father of her baby.
- �up front with� here means �face with�, right?

3. Did you check to make sure that nothing is left behind?
- Is this natural?

4. Nobody seems to like him, he�s always left out at work.
- What does �left out� mean here?

Thanks a lot to Teachers,

Stevenukd.

[hitori2k6]

Stevenukd,

1. "step up to the plate" typically means to accept responsibility
for something. The term comes from the American sport of Baseball.

2. "Up front with" means "to be honest with".
For example, "my friend was up front with me by telling me
I should study more".
Not quite the same as "face with".

For example "He is faced with having to pay higher tuition next year".
But maybe "face with" might mean something different in British English.

3. Actually, if you're going to use the past tense at the beginning of the
sentence, you should keep it that way throughout.

So, it should read "Did you check to make sure that nothing was left
behind?"
In your example, "Did you..." and "nothing is..." you are mixing tenses
and it is incorrect. You have past tense at the beginning and present
tense in the second half of the sentence".

4. The term "left out" means to be "excluded". It would mean
that no one talks with him or maybe he's not included in activities.

I hope this helps.

Hitori2k6

[asterix]

If I may add a couple of comments to hitori's excellent advice:

Step up to the plate can mean, "rise to the occasion", or just , "do what is required".
It has become a cliche.

2. I think you cannot know if you are the father of her baby or not. Only she can know, or at least only the lab technician who does the DNA test can know for sure.