Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jays]

Please explain the meaning of "arrived complete" in the following sentences.
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Students entering Harvard are brought to a special section of the library where the rough drafts of famous authors are kept. This exercise has quite an impact on young writers who previously thought that the work of geniuses arrived complete, in a single stroke of inspiration.

[CP]

It means, "arrived already fully formed, with nothing left to add or change."
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[Lorikeet]

That reminds me of a trip we took to Washington D.C. many years ago when my first son was young. He was a real perfectionist, and never wanted to cross anything out on anything he wrote. He always wanted to start over. We said it was okay to cross things out once in a while. Then we looked at a lot of old documents, in which many famous people in American history had crossed out some words. After that, we used to say, "Benjamin Franklin crossed out...Thomas Jefferson crossed out..." etc.

[CP]

Lorikeet: Nice story.

They say good writing is good re-writing. I bet your son still crosses out and is a good writer, too.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb