Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[learner1]

Hello,

'John leaves her to tend with the Christmas decorations so he can go run a last minute errand.'

1. Is 'tend with' a correct idiom? If so, what does it mean here?

2. What does 'go run a last minute errand' mean here?
(I know what 'run an errand' means, but I don't understand what 'a last minute' mean here)

Thank you very much.

[CP]

It should be either, "John leaves her to tend to the Christmas decorations so he can go run a last-minute errand," or "John leaves her to attend to the Christmas decorations so he can go run a last-minute errand," or "John leaves her to contend with the Christmas decorations so he can go run a last-minute errand."

As far as I know, tend to is just a short version of attend to, which means take care of. Contend with really means deal with or fight with. It would work as well here as the other verbs.

The errand is a last-minute errand, one that either has to be done at the last minute or that he just learned about at the last minute.
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[learner1]

Hello CP,

Thank you very much for your helpful explanation.