For the most part

For the most part

Today’s expression is “for the most part.” What do we mean when we say, “for the most part?” We mean, something is mostly, but not entirely, true. Here’s how you heard it earlier in this episode.

For the most part, the scientists studying DNA samples from Africa found what they expected. But, there were small populations that showed some evidence of a new species. For the most part, they found what they expected—that means, most of their findings were in line with our current understanding. However, when you hear “for the most part,” I want you to anticipate the exception that comes after it.

For the most part, they found what they expected. But—and here’s the exception—they found some surprises in three specific populations.

A lot of you have kids, so you might have experience with babysitters—whether that’s family members or neighborhood teenagers watching your kids for you. You might come home after date night with your spouse and ask, “How did the kids behave?” Maybe the babysitter says, “For the most part, they behaved.” What did I tell you to listen for next? That’s right: the exception. “For the most part, they behaved. But it took forever to get them to go to bed.” Ah, okay. Now you have the full picture.

My first car was a 1991 Honda Accord—passed down from my parents. They were great cars, Hondas from that time, but they all seemed to have one problem. They all seemed to rust in the same place, right above the rear wheels. If someone asked me—way back when—if someone asked me, “Is your car in good condition?” I would have answered, “Yes, for the most part. There’s just a little rust in the back over the wheels.” Yes, it is in good condition, with just a few exceptions. Yes, it is, for the most part.

You can also say “for the most part” after making your generalization. Have you ever given a presentation to a large group, either at work or in a volunteer capacity? If so, you might reflect on how the presentation went, whether your audience stayed engaged and interested in what you were saying. You might think back and say, “The audience was interested and engaged in the presentation, for the most part. The only exception was when we talked about the budget for next year.” They stayed engaged, for the most part.

You can also put it in the middle of the sentence. Here are a few examples like that. CEO’s, for the most part, recognize that they need to keep their employees happy. What might be the exception to that? Some CEO’s don’t care about their employees—that’s true; other executives might only go to a small effort to keep employees satisfied. But, for the most part, they recognize that in today’s labor market, employee satisfaction is important.

Here’s another example. Ridesharing is, for the most part, a benefit to society. It’s great that we now have an additional form of transportation. If you want to have some drinks, you don’t have to worry about driving. It’s safer and more convenient than traditional taxis. But, let’s be honest: there are some drawbacks to ridesharing. The drivers don’t make a lot of money. It contributes to congestion on the roads. Some studies show the average speed on city roads falls when ridesharing arrives, because drivers slowly circle around waiting for rides. But, for the most part, ridesharing has been good for city-dwellers.

JR’s song of the week

Today’s song of the week is “Losing My Religion” by REM, suggested by Ali from Istanbul. That was so popular when it came out, 1991, so popular in my town. I was eight years old when it came out and that was on the radio all the time. It’s a classic—“Losing My Religion” by the band REM.

That’s all for today. Thanks for joining us as always. The next episode is coming up on Monday, and we will see you then.

If you like listening to Plain English on Spotify or your favorite podcast app, then you should know that Plain English is about a lot more than just the audio podcast. Our web site has transcripts of every program—every word I say on the program is on the web site, free for all users to see.

But there’s another feature of the transcripts, too, for Plain English Plus+ members. In every episode, we highlight about 100 words or phrases. And if you hover your mouse over a highlighted word, then it shows you the translation into your own language—if you speak Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Italian, or Chinese. So if you listened to this episode and didn’t know what “sequence the genome” means, or what “traces of” DNA is, then you can just hover over it and see what it means. It’s pretty cool. And if you would like to try that out—if you’d like to see a full sample episode with these translations, then check out PlainEnglish.com/Sample.