Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Twann]

Hi CP,
What's the meaning of this expression : "to work their way through smthg" ?
In advance thanks
I appreciate your quotation at the end of most of your answers. Meaningful !

[CP]

You can work your way through college, that is, pay for college with money you make while going to school.

You can work your way through / up through an organization, perhaps starting in the mail room and ending up in the president's chair.

You can work your way through a big meal, starting with soup and ending with nuts, as the ancient Romans did, or perhaps starting with a salad and ending with a dessert and then a cheese plate as the modern French do.

You can work your way through a puzzle, a maze, a brain-teaser, a mathematics problem, or an essay exam.

You can work your way through a long novel, something by D i c k e n s or Tolstoy, perhaps, or through all the writings of Shakespeare or Dostoevsky.

You can work your way through all the movies with Fred Astaire in them, marveling at the dancer whose stated goal was to "knock 'em in the aisles" every time -- and who succeeded. I recommend it.

You can work your way through an entire box of chocolates at one sitting, though I don't recommend it.

And you can work your way through a long explanation in a foreign language, particularly one freighted with unaccustomed usages and esoteric turns of phrase.

Probably other people can think of other examples.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb