Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[stevenukd]

Dear Teachers,

1. My suggestion would be don�t go out of your way to disobey him anymore.
- What does �go out of your way� mean here?

2. When someone says �thanks you!� , we also can answer �don�t mention it!� or �my pleasure!�, right?

3. I�m not sure I fully understand what you�re asking. But I�ll take a stab at it anyway.
- �I�ll take a stab at it� here means �I�ll try my best to answer�, right?

Thanks a lot to Teachers,

Stevenukd

[CP]

1. When you go out of your way to do something, you figuratively take the long way around, you make an extra effort of some sort. Here, the suggestion is not to do anything on purpose to disobey him.

2. First, it has to be "Thank you" or "Thanks" or "Thanks a lot," etc.; it can't be "Thanks you." Second, yes, you can say, "Don�t mention it!� or, �My pleasure!� as alternatives to "You're welcome" and its variations.

"Don't mention it" is the English equivalent of "De rien" in French or "De nada" in Spanish or "Nichts zu danken" in German.

3. "I�ll take a stab at it� means generally, "I'll give it a try" or in this case, as you put it, �I�ll try my best to answer."
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