In sight
The end is in sight. Have you ever heard that expression? “In sight” is the expression we’ll talk about today. Literally, it means that something is visible to you: you can see it. But often we use it more metaphorically. The news about the COVID vaccine was great. In today’s lesson, I said it means the end of the pandemic is in sight.
Is the pandemic over? No. Far from it. But we can now imagine the end of the pandemic. We can now say that it’s in the future and we can predict how it will end. It might take a while; it might take until the end of next year or even longer. But we can now imagine how it will end: the vaccine appears to work and we can imagine that people will gradually get vaccinated over the next year or two.
Every year in March, we in Chicago allow ourselves to think about what it would be like to enjoy being outside again. After a long winter, the end is in sight in March. In January, it feels like winter will never end. In March, it’s not over. But there are enough warmer days in March to imagine the end of the cold weather. The end is in sight in March.
We use this with any type of painful and long ordeal, usually when it seemed, in the past, like it would never end. I know a lot of you are doctors. To be a doctor, you need to go through many long years of school and training before you can be certified to practice medicine. I bet—I don’t know, but I bet—that during some of those early years, it seemed like your training would never end. But in the last year or two, as you were getting closer to finishing your training, you could start to really imagine the end. You allow yourself to think that the end is coming. Hey, if you’re in year two of a six-year process, the end is not in sight. But when you’re in year five, the end is in sight. You can let yourself imagine the end.
It doesn’t just have to be “the end.” It can be any objective, any goal. I should note that when something is in sight, there are no guarantees. It just means you can picture it in your mind and that it seems realistic; it seems like it’s coming. After the American election, Joe Biden was leading in enough states to imagine that he would win. Victory was in sight. It wasn’t official yet. And it was still possible that Trump would win. But victory was in sight: he had the lead in enough states to win the election overall.
If two sides are in a tough negotiation, it can seem like they will never come to an agreement. But often, one side will move and there will be some progress in the negotiation. If there’s enough progress, you might be able to imagine a compromise. A compromise might be in sight; an agreement might be in sight. You might still have some points of disagreement. But if you’ve already reached an agreement on the biggest points, then you can allow yourself to look forward to reaching an agreement overall. An agreement is in sight.
When will they play basketball or hockey again? You might remember the NBA and NHL seasons were interrupted by the pandemic and they finished last season right around the same time that this season was supposed to begin. The schedule was all messed up. Now both leagues have a plan: Basketball believes it will start on December 22; hockey will start around the first of the new year. But there have been many issues to contend with. Would fans be allowed in the arenas? Would teams travel the way they typically have done? What about the teams that play in Canada and cannot easily cross the border? All these issues have not yet been resolved. But a resolution is in sight. They are making progress on resolving these issues. Not every issue has been solved. But they have made enough progress to imagine a full resolution shortly.
JR’s song of the week
Today’s song of the week is “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence. The lyrics describe a person who’s numb to life and in a funk. She asks another person to “wake me up inside” and “save me from the dark.” It’s not a bedtime song. It has a lot of energy. Maybe it’s a song to pump you up for a workout or something! Thanks JR for selecting that song this week.
See you next time!
Well the end is in sight: we are coming to the end of today’s lesson. But don’t worry, there’s always a new lesson coming your way in a few days. That’s because we produce brand-new lessons every Monday and Thursday. And listen, if you’re not ready for the fun to end, you can always log on to PlainEnglish.com/315 and continue studying this topic. That’s where we have the transcripts, translations, video lesson, and exercises, all associated with this great topic. So check that out at PlainEnglish.com/315.
Use realistic expressions like a native speaker
