Sunday, January 9, 2011

영어 Hint of the Day #26: How to Correctly Use the Phrase "set out"

영어 Hint of the Day #26: How to Correctly Use the Phrase "set out"

The phrase "set out" isn't difficult to understand.  "출발하다" is pretty accurate and literal.  It can certainly mean to begin, as in a trip, or a journey.  The point of the phrase is that there is a specific destination.  That destination can be either literal (a specific place) or figurative (success).

Examples:
a.  Min-ho set out on his way to work.
b.  Hee-Young set out on her way to success by entering Brown University.
c.  The Lost Seoul has set out to create a useful blog for Koreans and non-Koreans alike.

Notes:
The subject that "sets out" is almost always an animate object.  It can a person, or group of people.  While it may not be technically wrong for an inanimate object to be the subject that "sets out," The Lost Seoul cannot think of any examples in which the subject in inanimate.

4 comments:

Roboseyo said...

"Suzy set out some cookies for santa"

The Lost Seoul said...

No doubt that is correct, although it is a mere coincidence, i.e. the point of the post was to explain "set out" as a way of starting towards a goal i.e. similar to 출발하다. Given your fluency, maybe you are just testing me. Did I pass?

Roboseyo said...

It's a different context, but it's also correct usage. :)

If you do it less carefully than setting out the nice dishes for dinner with guests, or setting out a place of cookies for santa, you'd say "put out" -- "he put out the trash on Tuesday mornings" or "they put the dog out when company came, because the dog barked at strangers" (out meaning outside). Put out has other idiomatic meanings, too. (Put out the fire)

The Lost Seoul said...

There is no doubt that you are right that it is correct usage.

I should have put this post under the Hall of Shame category, because the reason for this post was the sample sentence "Raiders is the movie it set out to be." While it may be technically correct, no one fluent in English would say it that way.

Thanks again for the comment (I am a fanyoseyo).

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