Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[James.E]

Hi,
The sentence is simple as:
Income-tax cuts have fallen far short of his pledges.

The word short here is a little odd for me, though it doesn't matter in my understanding of the main idea of the sentence. And I want to know what it exactly mean.

Thank you.
_________________
Marx says that a foreign language is a weapon in the struggle of life.

[CP]

To fall short of a goal is to fail to achieve the goal. Here, the politician made various pledges, then he or she made some tax cuts, which are just not enough to fulfill his or her previous promises.

I hope I didn't fall short of answering your question.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[James.E]

No,you didn't,CP.Thank you.
I think it was the word "far" that interfered with my understanding of the phrase.
I assumed "fall far of" as a phrase not "fall short of" at that time.
Then I will memorise "fall short of" as a whole.
And the exact meaning of the short here is clear, that is lacking,not sufficient.
_________________
Marx says that a foreign language is a weapon in the struggle of life.

[CP]

As I'm sure you see, "far short of" is just a way to say worse than "short of," as in falling down at the 50-meter point rather than the 90-meter point in a 100-meter race. That would be literally falling far short of the goal.

You can also say "well short of": "The quarterly revenues fell well short of prediction."
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb