preach, take out of context ?

[whl626]

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,4386,216796,00.html?

I got these sentences from the above link

( He further told the questioner who was pressing the case for Australia's engagement with Asia: 'You are actually preaching to somebody who is on your side, who wants to bring you into Asean plus summits. You've got to make your points to the others who are not on your side.' )

** May I know what it means " You are actually preaching to someboday who is on your side , ........


( The Australian govern-ment is aware that the Prime Minister's comments were taken out of context. The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, reiterated this in his interview with ABC national television on Oct 21. )

** .... comments were taken out of context ????

 

[RonBee]

http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,4386,216796,00.html?

I got these sentences from the above link

( He further told the questioner who was pressing the case for Australia's engagement with Asia: 'You are actually preaching to somebody who is on your side, who wants to bring you into Asean plus summits. You've got to make your points to the others who are not on your side.' )

** May I know what it means " You are actually preaching to someboday who is on your side , ........


( The Australian govern-ment is aware that the Prime Minister's comments were taken out of context. The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, reiterated this in his interview with ABC national television on Oct 21. )

** .... comments were taken out of context ????

First question:

"You are actually preaching to somebody who is on your side" means the person is talking to somebody who already agrees with him. The speaker is saying to that individual that he would be better served by talking to people who don't already share his point of view. (Please let me know if that is an adequate explanation.) An American idiomatic expression for that is preaching to the choir. If you are preching to the choir you are talking to people who already agree with you.

Second question:

It is context which gives any statement its meaning. If someone accuses somebody of taking his statement out of context he is saying that person is using his statement in such a way as to suggest a meaning he (the original speaker) did not intend.

 

[whl626]

I got confused over the use of ' preaching ' in the sentence. Simply substitute ' talking ' for ' preaching ' makes the whole sentence clear-cut anyway Thanks

By the way, I find that news on Singapore papers are NOT very well-written somehow. They tend to use big words .

 

[whl626]

Ooops, maybe it is I who need to do some soul-searching on my English level

 

[RonBee]

:wink: