Sent home glowing reports

[ian2]

In the following paragraph:

Vincent appears to have been genuinely dedicated and effective at Goupil's. His boss, Tersteeg, sent home glowing reportsand after four years at The Hague he was promoted to the London branch.

The blue phrase "sent glowing reports" apparently means "sent home good news, praising words, etc", which could come in different forms, such as a telephone call, not necessarily in a report (In fact, always not by way of report). My question is, as an idiomatic expression, it means the above, but is there a context where it really means reports, like we talked about our children whose teacher sends home report cards in which a straight A is reported. To me, it seems glowing reports has been routinely idiomatically used to mean praising words rather than actual reports. To form the question from another perspective, what should we say if we really mean REPORTS, as we talk about sending home a three page report by Fedex? Your insight is appreciated.

Happy New Year!

Ian2

[MrPedantic]

Hello Ian, a happy new year to you too!

1. The teacher sent home glowing reports.

I see four problems here:

a) "glowing reports" is a set phrase; its default meaning is "glowing accounts", rather than "report cards full of straight A grades" – though in theory, there's no reason why it shouldn't mean the latter, in the right context;

b) "sent home" suggests that the reports were sent to the teacher's own home;

c) usually, you talk about a person's school report in the singular;

d) the "sending home" is usually unexpressed: we know, usually, that a teacher prepared the school report for the benefit of the child's parents.

Thus perhaps:

2. His teacher gave him a very good report this year.
3. His teacher gave him very good grades this year.
4. He went home with a glowing school report.
5. He got very good grades in his report.

I expect other members will be able to think up other alternatives!

All the best,

MrP

[curmudgeon]

I think 'home' here means Head Office. Reports could be oral or written. Because he received good (glowing)reports on a regular basis his ability was noticed and he was promoted.

[MrPedantic]

Originally Posted by curmudgeon

I think 'home' here means Head Office.

MrP

[ian2]

Excellent explanations from both of you. That is very clear. For non-native speakers of English, HOME seems to be always wrongly interpreted as the home of the person who is the object of the report.

You both deserve a HAPPY NEW YEAR again!

Ian2