I hope beyond hope that you received your gift.

[tree123]

[FONT=&quot]I hope beyond hope that you received your gift.[/FONT]

This is from an email of an American friend of mine.

Does "beyond hope" mean hope very much? He mailed me a gift this time.

Previously he probably mailed me a card but I didn't get it. It had lost somewhere.

PS-I prefer asking my questions of language here. Mostly my questions will be answered soon.

 

[Tarheel]

This is from an email of an American friend of mine.

Does "hope beyond hope" mean hope very much? He mailed me a gift this time.

Previously he probably mailed me a card but I didn't get it. It got lost somewhere.

PS-I prefer asking my questions of language here. Mostly my questions will be answered soon.

Definitely. It means very much. He is saying he will be very disappointed if you didn't get it.

 

[emsr2d2]

PS - I prefer asking my language questions [STRIKE]of language[/STRIKE] here. [STRIKE]Mostly[/STRIKE] Most of my questions [STRIKE]will be[/STRIKE] are answered [STRIKE]soon[/STRIKE] quickly.

Note my changes above. I have underlined "prefer" just because you haven't made it clear what you prefer it to. I changed your second sentence but after I had done it, I realised you might have meant "Soon you will have answered most of my questions (and I won't have any more questions)". Is that what you meant?

 

[tree123]

Note my changes above. I have underlined "prefer" just because you haven't made it clear what you prefer it to.

I mean I would like to ask the English questions on our forum. It is professional because of language experts and fans here. I wouldn't like to bother the person who wrote to me. So he and I will have to write to each other back and forth.

I explained this to you all in case you are curious why I don't ask him directly.

What is the difference between "soon" and "quickly"?

 

[Tarheel]

If I do something quickly I do it without wasting time. If I do something soon I make it a priority. I don't take too long to take it up. Does that tell you which task will be finished first. No, it doesn't. Also, they can be subjective. My idea of soon might be different from yours.

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

Most of my language questions here are answered soon after I post them.

 

[Tarheel]

In practical terms, if you get an answer to your post soon after you post it you get an answer within a couple of hours. (The practical meaning of soon varies. It can mean a couple of minutes, a couple of hours, or a couple of days.)

That's all I have to say about that now. Be back soon!

 

[Tarheel]

Tree, I made a mistake, and I edited my post to correct that mistake. If you post something and get a response within a couple of hours that's soon. A couple of days is not.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

It means he understands postal delivery in China! ;-) He wants you to receive your gift, but he knows that the chances of it actually getting to you are maybe not great.

hope = To want something that has some (perhaps small) chance of happening. I hope I do well on the exam tomorrow.
wish = To want something you know has no chance of happening. I wish I had a million dollars.

Hope beyond hope is somewhere between wish and hope. Even though I know the chance is very small, still it is possible.

Your friend is being a bit hyperbolic. Postal delivery is not all that terrible in China, it just takes a long, long time. Also, it's not quite best usage. "I hope you received your gift" looks to the past. "If you don't have it by now, I think you will never get it." Your friend cannot guess the timing of your receipt of his international shipment. Better for them to say, 'I hope you receive your gift.' This assumes that at some future date you will get what they sent.

 

[Tdol]

It could be that he isn't expecting it to arrive. He is hoping, but without much hope. My sister-in-law sent me a DVD boxset to a country with a dodgy post. My brother emailed me hoping the postal worker enjoyed it.