A question from Emily about a sentence in an exercise on job interviews. (I have edited the question & answer.) Dear Joe, I have a question about this sentence: As the minutes tick past, you feel a mounting sense of doom as you anticipate the questions that will cause a deafening silence during the interview! I don't know the exact meaning of the whole sentence. Also for the first clause, which is the verb? "tick" or "past"? Yours sincerely, Emily My answer: Dear Emily, This sentence, in other words, means: As you wait for the interview, you worry more and more about questions you won't be able to answer. "as the minutes tick past,": "tick" is the verb, the sound that clocks make. This emphasizes the feeling of time passing, like when you're nervous and waiting for something. "you feel a mounting sense of doom": "mounting" means increasing. "doom" means a terrible future you cannot prevent. You have an increasing feeling that the interview will go very badly. "as you anticipate": "anticipate" means think about something that will happen in the future. You're imagining what will happen in the interview. "the questions that will cause a deafening silence during the interview!": "deafening silence" emphasizes an embarrassing reaction of not saying anything. You worry that the interviewer will ask you questions that you will not know how to answer, so you will be left saying nothing and so feeling embarrassed. Hope this helps, Best regards, Giuseppe a.k.a. joe3 Emily's reply: Dear Joe,
Thanks for your detailed explanation! This long and difficult sentence has haunted me for several days. Now I've got what it means clearly! Thank you very much! Best regards! Emily
2 Comments
28/9/2012 01:30:43 am
Thanks for sharing such a nice info with us.I appreciate this blog.
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G.A.L.E.S.L.
28/9/2012 05:29:46 am
You're welcome! Feel free to ask any questions yourself :)
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G.A.L.E.S.L. / joe3
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