Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

Dear teachers,
Please takeyour time to asnwer my questions.

Thanks

1.He is in his *element*.
What does that mean? He is in a good mood?


2. Is there an adjective to describe "not-so hard-working" attitude? So that for teachers with this kind of attitude, they don't care about how much students can learn but it's good enough that they have showed up in class.

Sorry I am using it in an unusaual sample sentence.

3.
The distance from the two furtherest points of this country is 200 kilomenters.
Is that correct?

[Bob S.]

[CP]

2. I might say that the teacher was easygoing, or had a laid-back approach to teaching. He was more casual than most teachers. She took it easy on her students. He wasn't too demanding. She wasn't strict.

3. I might say that the country is 200 kilometers long. Unless it's square, it must be longer than it is wide, and the two farthest points would tell how long it is.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[missdaredevil]

It's rare, but some teachers aren't lazy but lacking the enthusiasm to teach. So that's "languid" or l"ackadaisical"??

Thanks

[bud]

That's good, MissD!

CP, are you saying that all countries, if not square, are longer than they are wide?

[CP]

Draw any shape you like on a piece of paper, to represent a state, a country, an island.

If it is perfectly square, it will be exactly as tall as it is wide, and the distance from one corner to the opposite (the longest distance) will be the same no matter which corner you start from. If it is perfectly round, it will be the same distance (diameter) through the center from any point to the opposite side.

Otherwise, the shape will have two points that are farthest from each other, and two points that are nearest to each other, measured from points on the outline of the shape.

The longest distance is the length of the shape; the shortest is the width. That's what I meant--and I guess I assumed no country is perfectly square or perfectly round.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[bud]

OK, I see what you mean. In some cases it's not clear which dimension is which (length, width, hieght). I'd say this is one of them.