Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[missdaredevil]

Dear teachers,
I have six questions today. Please help me with them.


1.I am so excited that all of you have decided to join *the* Camp GirlScout Staff for the summer of 2007!

Why is the *the* needed in this case?

2.*To the extent *the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass suicide, it is one of the largest such mass suicides in history,

Does it mean *it was even to the point of*?

3.You also might want to start getting your body in shape and* ready to go.*
To go where?

4.*sack lunch*=lunch in a brown paper bag?

5. you will receive your staff uniform shirts and tie.
or
you will receive your staff uniform shirts and*a* tie.

6.Are * tan shorts* usually worn for tanning sessions?

Thank you so much.

[CP]

1 There is only one staff, one set of people who work there, so tha is the staff that you have decided to join.

2. No. It means insofar as the actions in Jonestown were viewed that way. If you didn't view it as a mass suicide, but rather as murder, then it would not rank among the largest mass suicides.

3. If you are ready to go, it doesn't necessarily mean ready to go somewhere else, but rather ready for whatever is coming. We sit down to play chess. You have your tea and I my lemonade. I say, "Ready to go?" You say yes, then beat me at chess. See?

4. Yes.

5. You can have it either way. Since it is tie, singular, you are getting only one tie but more than one shirt. You often hear "tie" without "a", as in wearing jacket and tie.

6. Probably this means the color of the shorts. Tan is light brown, maybe beige or khaki colored.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[missdaredevil]

[CP]

Think of it as a matter of degree. Were the actions a mass suicide? On a scale of 1 to 10, I might say 8, you might say 3. So for me, it is more like a true mass suicide, but to you, it is not so much like a true mass suicide. From my point of view, then, it is more likely to be among the largest in history; from your point of view, less likely.

Unfortunately, the sentence was not well-thought-out. What he or she meant to say is something like, "If it was a mass suicide (and not everyone would agree), it was one of the largest ever."

A better use of the "to the extent" construction: To the extent one can believe what politicians, rather than scientists, say, global warming is really nothing to worry about.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb