One of the new English words I learned recently is "desks go." But actually I'm not sure what case it is used. In the context, it means a desk itself.
A person compliments her boss's desk because he keeps his desk very neat.
"I'm very impressed by your desk."
But her boss misunderstands.
"As desks go, It's nothing special. I'm not one of those power-tripping executives who think they need a desk the size of a football field to make themselves feel important."
I wonder if what "desks go" exactly means and it's used so often.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
One Japanese struggle with learning English.
About Me
- sand
- I'm studying English every day but I don't seem to improve! I sometimes have to speak English at my job, I want to be active internationally both in business and in helping poor children around the world go to school. And if possible, I'd like to work abroad for a few years. So I need to be able to speak English. Please give me advice and point out any strange English!
4 comments:
Hello, and a late Happy New Year!
As I started to read your posting, I thought, "Desks go .... desks go? I don't know what it means either!"
But later, when you gave the example, it became clear. "Desks go" is not the question, but you are asking about a particular phrase structure, "As <plural noun> go, <some comparative comment about a particular noun>."
Here are a few examples to help you get a better feel for the meaning:
As friends go, he is not the most reliable.
As TV dramas go, it was one of the most interesting.
As apartments in London go, mine is in the top 10% of rental costs.
As ideas go, hers are always the most imaginative.
The general concept of the phrase is that a particular thing is being compared with all such things.
"he" (that one male friend mine) compared with all friends.
"it" (a particular TV drama) compared with all TV dramas.
"mine" (my apartment) compared with all apartments in London.
"hers" (her ideas) compared with all ideas.
As you notice, in the second part of the sentence we usually use a pronoun, rather than repeating the noun.
But it is possible to repeat the noun:
"As blogs go, your blog is the one I like best." and "As blogs go, yours is the one I like best." are both OK.
It is also possible to use different nouns in each part of the phrase.
For example: "As blogs go, your web page is the one I like best."
If the first part of the sentence doesn't set the context enough, we can do that in the second part of the sentence.
The example about the TV dramas only makes sense if we have already been talking about a particular drama, and therefore you know what "it" refers to. If we have not been talking about any drama, I would have to say something like this:
As TV dramas go, Hagetaka was one of the most interesting.
The desk example can be expressed another way:
"As for my desk, it's nothing special"
but the sense of comparison with other desks is not so strong. I don't know much about the Japanese language, but I think this kind of "topic - comment" structure should be quite comfortable for you.
To answer your final question - "desks go" is not very common! But the general structure "As Xs go, Y is <comment>" is sometimes used, but is still not very common.
Tim Frost: Excellent explanation, couldn't have explain that well myself.
Tim,
WOW!! Thank you very much for your detailed explanation!!
I understand very well.
I wonder if you are a teacher. Your explanation is always easy to understand.
By the way, Hagetaka was very interesting drama!
Anonymous,
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Yes, Tim always gives me great explanation!
Post a Comment