“Where are you going so early in the morning?”
“To the station. My friend Chetan is coming from Delhi. Need to pick him up.”
“Chetan? Oh, I remember him! He’s the guy who fought with his father, right?”
“You have a good memory. Chetan will be staying with me and not his parents.”
“It’s a pity that he still hasn’t reconciled to his father. He should ...”
“You mean ‘reconciled with’ his father, don’t you?”
“What’s the difference between ‘reconciled with’ and ‘reconciled to’?”
“Reconcile with is mostly used when another person is involved. It means to patch up with someone with whom you have not had a good relationship.”
“In other words, the two individuals begin to start talking to each other again. They put an end to their strained relationship.”
“Exactly! The sisters reconciled with each other after nearly five years.”
“My aunt and uncle fight all the time. Sometimes, it takes my aunt weeks to reconcile with her husband. Now tell me, what does ‘reconcile to’ mean?”
“When you ‘reconcile to’ something, you are willing, though reluctantly, to put up with a bad or an unpleasant situation.”
“In other words, you realise there’s nothing you can do about it, and so are willing to accept it.”
“That’s right! Mala reconciled herself to the fact that Sujatha being the more experienced player will be made captain of the team.”
“Geetha was reconciled to the fact that her son would not marry the girl of her choice.”
“Most children want to marry the person of their choice. They don’t like it when parents give them the hard sell when it comes to choosing a life partner.”
“The hard sell? What are you talking about?”
“When a salesperson gives you the hard sell, he attempts to sell you a product. He doesn’t care whether you need it or not.”
“In other words, it’s an aggressive approach to selling. The salesman uses every means available to get you to buy the product.”
“Companies try to achieve this through an aggressive advertisement campaign. The agent gave my father the hard sell, but he refused to buy a new policy.”
“I asked the price of the scooter and the salesperson gave me the hard sell. Now, tell me, what is the opposite of ‘hard sell’? Is it soft sell?”
“You are absolutely right. Would you like to come with me to the station? You can ...”
“No, I need to go to the hospital. My friend has been laid down with jaundice. I need ...”
“When someone is forced to stay in bed because of an illness, you normally say that he has been ‘laid up with’ and not ‘laid down with’.”
“I see. Malathi’s kids have been laid up with chicken pox.”
“I was laid up with a cold during the weekend. One can also use the expression without ‘with’. For example, one can say, after the accident Rahul was laid up for a month.”
“Meaning that Rahul had to stay in bed for a month.”
“I guess you could say that! Well, I’d better go. I don’t want to be late.”
“And I’d better see my friend who’s been laid up for a week.”
******
“I want my kids to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.” — Phyllis Diller
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