Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

My wife, on one of her first visits to my mother's house, placed a packet of biscuits on an end table and went to the kitchen to fetch a drink. When she returned, she found the packet had been removed. Confused,she set down her drink and went back to the kitchen for more biscuits, only to return to find that her drink had disappeared. Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks, so as not to make water rings on the end tables. Now she knows better.

What does the last but one sentence mean? What does an "end table" mean?

Thanks

[Mister Micawber]

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An end table is a small table placed at the end of a sofa or divan.

Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks, so as not to make water rings on the end tables = until then she had thought that everyone carried their drinks; if they set them down, the moisture on the bottom of the glass would produce circular marks on the table.
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"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
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Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's