0

I’m glad this programme is about singing because I love it and what I lack in ability, I make up for in enthusiasm!

It's taken from the BBC podcast

I understood the meaning with the help of an English to Turkish text translator but I don't understand the structure and have never seen a sentence like this before. Is it correct (in spoken language, I'm not asking for formal language) ?

Improve this question
3
  • 1
    "What I lack in X I make up for in Y" is a fairly standard expression, meaning "I may not be very good at (the activity in question), but I'm very keen."
    – Kate Bunting
    Aug 15, 2022 at 17:28
  • 1
    The text is ambiguous. Is the subject saying she loves the programme, or she loves singing? But don't be thrown by the two adverbial qualifiers in ability and in enthusiasm that are being deliberately juxtaposed / contrasted for effect. Consider a simpler version with no such qualifiers: What I want, I get.
    – FumbleFingers
    Aug 15, 2022 at 17:39
  • ...which could be "qualified" in much the same way as What I wanted yesterday, I get tomorrow (good things often arrive too late for me to appreciate them. cf It's always jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but never jam today).
    – FumbleFingers
    Aug 15, 2022 at 17:45

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.