Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[stevenukd]

Dear Teachers,

1. A: Excuse me . Does anyone sit here?
B: No. Go ahead.
- �go head� here means �you can sit here�, right? And is it common?

2. A: I�m so sorry about what I did. Can we make it up?
B: Ok. I will let you off the hook this time.
- What does �off the hook� mean here?

Thanks a lot to Teachers,

Stevenukd

[CP]

1. Yes, "Go ahead" means generally to do whatever is being discussed, as though to say, "There is nothing to stop you." It is commonly used in many contexts.

However, a native speaker would not say, "Excuse me . Does anyone sit here?", but rather, "Excuse me. Is anyone sitting here?" Even though the seat is empty, perhaps someone was sitting there and has left temporarily, but is returning. We don't say, "Does anyone sit here?" in that situation. It is a common way to say indirectly, "I would like to sit here. Is that all right with you?"

2. Yes. If you go fishing, you catch a fish when it bites your hook. You pull the fish up and decide to let him go back into the water, so you let him off the hook -- remove the problem -- and put him in the water. So "I'll let you off the hook" means, "I won't cause you a problem" or "I won't make you pay a penalty" or something like that.

However, as with the first sentence, the A part is not what a native speaker would say. Instead of "Can we make it up?", maybe one would say, "Can I make it up to you?" (means, "Can I do something to repay you or make you feel better?"). Or perhaps you mean, "Can we make up?" (means, "Can we repair the problem we had?"). When a couple have a spat, if they don't separate permanently, they might "kiss and make up," meaning patch up their little fight.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb