live on and live off

[jiang]

Dear teachers,

Please read the sentence:

It's sickening to see him to out of his way to please his boss. Somebody ought to tell him that nobody can _____ other people's favors alone.

a. live on b. live off

The key is 'a'. Could you please kindly explain why 'b' isn't correct?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by jiang

Dear teachers,
Please read the sentence:
It's sickening to see him go out of his way to please his boss. Somebody ought to tell him that nobody can _____ other people's favors alone.
a. live on b. live off
The key is 'a'. Could you please kindly explain why 'b' isn't correct?
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Thank you in advance.
Jiang

The second sentence does not wholly make sense to me. It implies that he is going out of his way to please his boss in return for favours. In that case he would be living off the favours bestowed on him. However, if he is going out of his way to please his boss to receive favours, then he hopes to live on those favours.
It would be better to say;
It sickens me to see him given favours just because he goes out of his way to please his boss. Someone should tell him that nobody can live on favours alone'
You can live on charity given by others, but you can also live off charity taken from others.
I hope that makes sense.

[jiang]

Dear curmudgeon,

Thank you very much for your explanation. It seems it has something to do with collocation. To make sure I understand it perfectly I am going to explain it to you. Could you please kindly see if the explanation is correct or not?

No.1

I think the key point of your explanation is the phrase ' to receive favours' and 'to bestow favours'. He did something to receive favours means he did something and get favours in return. If he did something and was bestowed the favours that means he get the favours because he has achieved something, say in his word. Is that right?

No.2

We can say 'to live on charity given by others'. If I use ' to live off' then the collocation should be 'to live off charity taken from others'. Is that right?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Have a nice weekend. I think you'll watch football match today. Is that right?

Jiang

Originally Posted by curmudgeon

The second sentence does not wholly make sense to me. It implies that he is going out of his way to please his boss in return for favours. In that case he would be living off the favours bestowed on him. However, if he is going out of his way to please his boss to receive favours, then he hopes to live on those favours.
It would be better to say;
It sickens me to see him given favours just because he goes out of his way to please his boss. Someone should tell him that nobody can live on favours alone'
You can live on charity given by others, but you can also live off charity taken from others.
I hope that makes sense.

[curmudgeon]

Yes Jiang that is my interpretation. Others may be able to elaborate, but I think you have the gist of it.

I will be watching football today My team ( Glasgow Celtic FC) are playing Hibernian away from home (in Edinburgh) It should be a very close match.

[jiang]

Dear curmudgeon,

Thank you very much for your reply. Now I see.

Enjoy the football match.

Jiang

Originally Posted by curmudgeon

Yes Jiang that is my interpretation. Others may be able to elaborate, but I think you have the gist of it.

I will be watching football today My team ( Glasgow Celtic FC) are playing Hibernian away from home (in Edinburgh) It should be a very close match.

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by jiang

Dear curmudgeon,

Thank you very much for your reply. Now I see.

Enjoy the football match.

Jiang

Well, it was a tough game as I predicted. Celtic had to fight back from two goals down for a draw. Very exciting!!

[jiang]

I know what 'draw' means but I am not sure of the meaning of 'down'. Does it mean Celtic has to have more than two scores to get a draw?

Jiang

Originally Posted by curmudgeon

Well, it was a tough game as I predicted. Celtic had to fight back from two goals down for a draw. Very exciting!!

[curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by jiang

I know what 'draw' means but I am not sure of the meaning of 'down'. Does it mean Celtic has to have more than two scores to get a draw?

Jiang

It means they were losing by two goals and had to score two to draw the game

[jiang]

Oh, I see.
What was the result?

Jiang

Originally Posted by curmudgeon

It means they were losing by two goals and had to score two to draw the game

[curmudgeon]

2 goals each! you see? they were trailing by 2 goals, so they had to score 2 goals.