Comments on: Fall behind https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/ Upgrade your English Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:11:20 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-6039 Fri, 12 Jan 2024 23:48:06 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-6039 In reply to Henriette.

Great example of “fall behind.” I have one tip for you. There’s a big difference in meaning between these two things:

1. “…hard to see that my child is falling behind in school.” This means, it’s difficult for you to know that this is happening.
2. “…hard to see my child fall behind in school.” This means, as a parent, it causes difficult emotions when you see your child fall behind.

I think you were going for meaning 2, so I’d say this: “As a mother, it’s difficult to see my child fall behind in school. I’ve learned not to worry too much about this, as I know that almost all children catch up later on in school or even in their professional lives.”

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By: Henriette https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-6026 Fri, 12 Jan 2024 08:30:48 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-6026 For me as a mother it is very hard to see that my child is falling behind on school results. I’ve learned not to worry too much about this as I know that almost all children will catch up later on during their school-time or even in their proffesional career.

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By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5946 Sun, 07 Jan 2024 17:46:35 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5946 In reply to Rita.

Great example! Are you watching the first matches of the year in Australia?

Here are a few edits: “During a recent tennis match close to the end” can be: “Close to the end of a recent tennis match,”
Put catch up in the past: “…suddenly, he caught up with his competitor”
“Winning the part” is probably either “winning the match” or “winning the set” (in tennis, there’s a point, a game, a set, and a match.)

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By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5942 Sun, 07 Jan 2024 17:38:41 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5942 In reply to Leon.

I’m not sure if this is different in Britain or not, but in the US, “public holiday” is to say that government and official offices are closed. To say “public holiday” is to specify that stockmarkets, banks, schools, offices, etc., are closed because it’s relevant to the sentence. For example, “The bank transfer will arrive on Tuesday because Monday is a public holiday.” This makes sense because banks are closed on Monday, so the transfer will arrive on Tuesday. However, when talking about your day to day life, simply “holiday” is enough. So I would say, “After the recent holidays, I’ve fallen behind in my goals to improve my health.”

One last thing: Intentions are just thoughts, so you can’t fall behind on an intention. You can fall behind on progress or goals.

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By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5940 Sun, 07 Jan 2024 17:32:30 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5940 In reply to Pedro.

Good example – you don’t need “on” here. You can say, “The little fish fell behind the others and were almost eaten by a shark.” There’s a funny joke in English. If you’re out in the woods with a hiking partner and you see a bear. You’re not scared. Your partner asks why you’re not scared: after all, you can’t outrun a bear. You can reply, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.”

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By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5935 Sun, 07 Jan 2024 17:29:20 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5935 In reply to Claudio.

I think you mean “…improve the quality of their vehicles.” You can also say, “….improve the quality of their vehicles with every model year.” In the second sentence, this is a great chance to use “do so” – “…those who don’t do so can fall behind in sales.”

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By: Rita https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5925 Sat, 06 Jan 2024 18:36:38 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5925 During a recent tennis match close to the end Sinner was fault behind Djokovic, but suddenly he catch up which his competitor changing the result and winning the part

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By: Leon https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5921 Sat, 06 Jan 2024 14:50:01 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5921 After the last public holidays I am falling behind in my intention to improve my health.

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By: Pedro https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5919 Sat, 06 Jan 2024 02:20:36 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5919 The little fish felt behind on the others and almost were eaten by shark.

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By: Claudio https://plainenglish.com/expressions/fall-behind/#comment-5914 Fri, 05 Jan 2024 20:00:03 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=19978#comment-5914 Carmakers need to invest in new models and improve the quality of their every time. This is a very competitive market and those who don’t do can fall behind in sales.

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