Tuesday, October 11, 2011

End up


To “end up” means exactly that: the end result, the final conclusion, what happens in the end. The final consequence. Often it is used in a negative way or has a negative finality to it. It can also be to arrive at some place or a moment in your life.
* To mean well: To have good intentions. 
*Verb forms: Mean/ meant/ meant. I guess: I think

1.  If you live above your means, spending more money than you earn, then you will no doubt end up in debt. Do you regularly use your credit card to your advantage or do you end up in a situation where you have bitten off more than you can chew so that you don’t have the means to pay back your credit card installments?

2. Many students of mine ask me how I ended up in Brazil. Sometimes I give the long story and sometimes the short one. Everyone has a story to tell. How did you end up in the job that you have? How did you end up where you are in any particular situation in your life?

3. When I start eating a bag of chips or a container of Pringles, my intention is to eat just a little… but, like most people, I end up eating the whole lot (everything).


4.  If you try to stay in touch with all of your friends and contacts on Facebook or via Messenger, Skype, or just plain email, you’ll end up spending hour after hour glued to your computer and will end up neglecting some of the more important things in life, like spending time with your family… or going to the beach.

5. When I tell myself that I’m going to work on some things over the weekend or on a public holiday, I normally end up doing nothing while at the same time feeling anxious, thinking that I should be doing something… so sometimes the best solution is to decide to do nothing so I can enjoy my free time.


4 comments :

  1. I didn't get the cartoon story.
    Confusing...

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  2. Hi Pablo, yes, I agree with you...
    The punch line (conclusion of the joke/ cartoon) doesn't make sense in a logical way, specifically because it doesn't make sense for the rat to say "I meant well" (I had good intentions) when he cut a tree down and crushed the goat's house... there is no way that anyone could have good intentions doing that... BUT, if you understand that the rat's arguments are always ways to excuse the bad things he does, then you will know that many times his answers may not be logical. He is really sarcastic. Anyways... the focus is not really the punchline for me, but the discussion that precedes it. If you understand the expression, "end up", then that's the best you can take away from this comic strip. Thanks for the comment!

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  3. end up we actually use this phrase to mean To finally be in a particular place or situation, especially willingly or unwillingly or unexpectedly

    when u say "i was travelling across europe and planning to end up in moscow" u show your willingness . u want it.u want to be there

    but when u say 'i was travelling across europe and ended up in moscow for some reason' u mean u did not want it or it happened unexpectedly or all of a sudden.

    My 2 cents.

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  4. Sure, the above comment is correct, but there are many more situations where you could use "end up" with an expected/ predictable outcome... for example, look at # 1/3/4/5 in the examples above. Language sometimes cannot be confined to one set of circumstances.

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