head down/right off/nowhere near as good at that/So before long/moving back to fade

[Maybo]

1. So the stairwell was filled with echoing noise, and I was climbing the steps head down, just following the heels of the person in front, when a voice near me went: "Kath!"

What does "head down" mean?

2. But Christy, she was good, I remember she was. It's funny, she went right off poems when she started her painting. And she was nowhere near as good at that.

What do "right off" and " nowhere near as good at that" mean?

3. So before long Tommy had gone back to his original defence, producing work that seemed deliberately childish, work that said he couldn't care less.

What does "So before long" mean?

4.He came over with a delighted smile, and we stood together for a moment without saying much-not out of awkwardness, but because we were waiting for any interest aroused by Tommy's moving back to fade.

What does "moving back to fade" mean?

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
https://archive.org/stream/NeverLetMeGo/NeverLetMeGo_djvu.txt

 

[Tarheel]

1. It's meant literally. She was looking down.
2. a. I don't know what it means here.
b. She wasn't as good at that as she was at something else.
3. A short time afterward
4. a. Nothing.
b. They were waiting for the interest to fade.
c. The interest was aroused by Tommy moving back.

 

[SoothingDave]

She stopped doing poems when she started painting. And she was not as good at painting as she was at poetry.

 

[Tarheel]

I have never stopped "doing" poems, so I didn't know what that meant.
;-)

 

[SoothingDave]

You didn't write them off?

 

[Tarheel]

No. Because I still write them.
;-)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

4. ". . . we were waiting for any interest aroused by Tommy's moving back to fade."

When interest (or curiosity, anger, delight, or any other feeling) slowly goes away, we might say it fades, fades out, or fades away.

Tommy had moved back - that is, he was now putting less effort into the work.

They didn't want to comment until Tommy's self-protective "defence" was forgotten.

 

[Maybo]

"Write off" means finish?

 

[Tarheel]

No, it doesn't.

 

[Maybo]

What does it mean?

 

[emsr2d2]

Have you tried looking it up yourself? Here's one of the hits you would have found if you had Googled "definition of write off phrasal verb". See if you can work out which of the five possible meanings fits your example.

 

[Maybo]

Have you tried looking it up yourself? Here's one of the hits you would have found if you had Googled "definition of write off phrasal verb". See if you can work out which of the five possible meanings fits your example.

Yes! Does it mean ignore or give up poems?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

"Write off" means finish?

The phrase isn't "went write off," it's "went right off." There, it means "immediately quit."

Your problem is that you're reading colloquial English, not standard textbook English. Is this a reading assignment, or are you reading for fun? Or for practice?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Have you tried looking it up yourself? Here's one of the hits you would have found if you had Googled "definition of write off phrasal verb". See if you can work out which of the five possible meanings fits your example.

True enough, but that won't help explain the sentence. The text says "right off," not "write off."

 

[GoesStation]

The phrase isn't "went write off," it's "went right off." There, it means "immediately quit."

Your problem is that you're reading colloquial English, not standard textbook English. Is this a reading assignment, or are you reading for fun? Or for practice?

Our somewhat unfortunate OP is trying to understand a little jovial banter that appeared in the thread. See post #5.

 

[Maybo]

 

[Tarheel]

Maybo, don't worry. All of your questions have been answered. As for the right off/write off thing it's just a kind of play on words. It's not truly relevant to your questions on this thread.