Thursday, 2 May 2013

Idioms: Take advantage of/make the most of


Commonly mistaken idioms!
Take advantage of / Make the most of

In spanish, (and probably other languages too... Perhaps you can correct me) this has just one translation, (Aprovechar) causing a bit of confusion for English students. Both of these can be used to describe "making good use of something" but the difference is that only "Take advantage of" can also be used in a negative/exploitative way

Take advantage of (Mostly used to describe exploitation)




Definition:

1.To put to good use
2. To profit selfishly by; exploit

Examples:

"We need to take advantage of his knowledge, we can learn a lot from him!" (good way)

"He took advantage of the old man, because he was naive and rich" (bad way)

"Her hands were busy so her boyfriend took advantage"
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Make the most of


Definition:
1. to put to good use; use something in a good way:

Examples:
"It's a sunny day! I need to make the most of the sun, because it's gonna rain soon probably!"
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"Make the most of your life, travel as much as you can!"


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