You've got so much going for you.

[shootingstar]

'Listen, Nora, I like you.'
Neil was harmless. A fifty-something guitar aficionado who liked cracking bad jokes and playing passable old Dylan covers live in the store.
'And I know you've got mental-health stuff.'
'Everyone's got mental-health stuff.'
'You know what I mean.'
'I'm feeling much better, generally,' she lied, 'It's not clinical. The doctor says it's situational depression. It's just I keep on having new . . . situations. But I haven't taken a day off thick for it all. Apart from when my mum . . . Yeah. Apart from that.'
Neil sighed. When he did so he made a whistling sound out of his nose. An ominous B flat. 'Nora, how long have you worked here?'
'Twelve years and . . .' - she knew this too well - '. . . eleven months and three days. On and off.'
'That's a long time. I feel like you are made for better things. You're in your late thirties.'
'I'm thirty-five.'
'You've got so much going for you. You teach people piano . . .'
'One person.'
He brushed a crumb off his sweater.
'Did you picture yourself stuck in your hometown working in a shop? . . .'

(The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, episode String Theory)

What does "You've got so much going for you" mean in this context? I think it's an idiomatic phrasing.

 

[jutfrank]

It means something like 'You've currently got a lot of positive things in your life that could lead to future success, fulfilment, happiness.'

 

[emsr2d2]

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, scene String Theory

Books/novels don't have scenes. Films, TV shows and plays do. I just checked online and there is, as yet, no film adaptation of this book (although one is being made). Consequently, that's the wrong word. Is "String Theory" the name of the relevant chapter of the book?

 

[shootingstar]

Books/novels don't have scenes. Films, TV shows and plays do. I just checked online and there is, as yet, no film adaptation of this book (although one is being made). Consequently, that's the wrong word. Is "String Theory" the name of the relevant chapter of the book?

Thank you. As far as I can see this book consists of a sequence of a large number of short incidents or occurrences in Nora's life. I'll call them "episodes" now. I don't think "chapter" does apply. For this purpose the episodes are too short and their intertwining is too loose in my opinion. "String Theory" is the name or title of one of the episodes of the book.

 

[shootingstar]

There is still an open question: Is "going" in "You've got so much going for you" the noun or the present participle?

​

 

[emsr2d2]

It's the participle. You can, if it helps, view it as a shortened form of "You've got so much that is going for you".

 

[emsr2d2]

There is still an open question: Is "going" in "You've got so much going for you" the noun or the present participle?

Just to let you know - the way you worded the underlined section made it sound as if there was still an unanswered question from post #1. There wasn't. You hadn't asked us this question at all until the post in the quote box above. It should have opened "I have another question".

 

[shootingstar]

Just to let you know - the way you worded the underlined section made it sound as if there was still an unanswered question from post #1. There wasn't. You hadn't asked us this question at all until the post in the quote box above. It should have opened "I have another question".

Thank you very much for this tip. I much appreciate those hints on nuances or subtle differences in meaning.