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I did an English test today. And I don't know what means

"In every street of every city,there is always a nobody who wants to be somebody"?

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    What do you think it might mean? What research have you done? Can you parse any portion of the sentence?
    – randomhead
    Commented Jun 10, 2021 at 13:04
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    The world is full of insignificant people who yearn to be famous and successful.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 10, 2021 at 13:15
  • correction: [What does X mean?]. That is a good place to start. How to ask a question using the verb mean.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jun 10, 2021 at 14:07

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"A nobody", in this type of use, is a person of no significance. Depending on the context it could be an insult, suggesting that a person has achieved nothing at all in their life; or it could simply mean that they are 'not noteworthy', perhaps not a celebrity.

Likewise, a "somebody" in this kind of context means someone who has achieved something. Again, depending on the specifics of the contexts it could mean that they are a celebrity, or perhaps just that they have achieved something to be proud of such as securing a good job.

So, "a nobody who wants to be somebody" would be someone without any achievement that is hoping to achieve something in the future. The nature of the terms does suggest that they might be a "hopeless dreamer", and that their aspirations are not actually going to amount to anything.

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  • Thank you very much!
    –  Yang Jingbo
    Commented Jun 10, 2021 at 14:05

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