[Vocabulary] Do they sound good?

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dilodi83

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Aug 27, 2006
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Italian
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Let's picture this situation:
I live in France but I had to fly to England on a business trip. On my way back to France, I got stucked at the airport because of a snowstorm. I call my father in France and this is an example of the conversation we have had:

Dad: Hey, what happened? Is the flight late? Has it been delayed?
Me: No dad, there's a snowstorm and lots of flights have been delayed. I don't know
when this situation is going to clear up (Question 1: Is the future correct here?
Question 2: Is "clear up" correct in this context?)
Dad: Ok, Do you have enough money with you?
Me: Yes dad, don't worry about that.
Dad: Are you ok now? When do you think you'll get back?
Me: I don't know dad, but don't worry, I'll figure it out. (Question 3: In this
sentence, "figure out" is a synonym of "work out", isn't it? That means that I'm going to find a solution to sort this problem out. Is this correct?
Question 4: Could I replace "figure out" with "to get by" in this context? If I can't what would the difference be?)

Thanks very much for your help.
 

Barb_D

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Let's picture this situation:
I live in France but I had to fly to England on a business trip. On my way back to France, I got stuck at the airport because of a snowstorm. I called my father in France and this is an example of the conversation we have had:

Dad: Hey, what happened? Is the flight late? Has it been delayed?

Me: Yes Dad. There's a snowstorm and lots of flights have been delayed. I don't know when this situation is going to clear up (Question 1: Is the future correct here? -- Yes, that's fine.
Question 2: Is "clear up" correct in this context?) -- Yes, but it could also refe to the weather itself instead of your situation. but both make sense in this context. When the weather clears up, the problem goes away.

Dad: Okay. Do you have enough money with you?

Me: Yes Dad. Don't worry about that.

Dad: Are you okay now? When do you think you'll get back?

Me: I don't know Dad, but don't worry. I'll figure it out. (Question 3: In this
sentence, "figure out" is a synonym of "work out", isn't it? That means that I'm going to find a solution to sort this problem out. Is this correct? Yes, but it's not up to you do to do this, is it? Isn't it up to the airlines to get you home, and not have you fiure out the solution.

Question 4: Could I replace "figure out" with "to get by" in this context? If I can't what would the difference be?)
No. "Get by" means you will be okay with the situation. Our income got reduced because my hours got cut, but we'll still get by. Well, I don't have a lot of cash on me, but it's enough to get by.

Thanks very much for your help.

1. You use "Dad" as his given name, so it need a capital. I know you can't hear it when you say it, but you can see it when you write it.
2. You have a lot of comma splices. Also okay in speech (since you can't see punctuation) but also something to fix in writing.
3. You need to answer "yes" to "has the flight been delayed?" It was indeed delayed.
4. Either OK or Okay but not "ok"
 
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