I had essentially written that off as a reject by now.

[shhop319]

A :I called them last week, and they said if we don't hear by the end of this week, to give them a call again. They're still undecided on some applications.

B: Interesting--thanks. I had essentially written that off as a reject by now.

Hi, this is a conversation regarding a graduate school admission. I can't understand what B said...Could you help?

 

[englishhobby]

I am a Non-NEST (Non-Native English Speaking Teacher).

I think B means he thought his application had been rejected, but now he sees there is still a chance of it being accepted.

 

[Rover_KE]

That's right.

B should have said 'rejection' instead of 'reject'.

 

[shhop319]

Thanks, but still confused...then why did B use "by now" at the end of the sentence? "rejection by now" seems he is regarding the situation as a rejection. Thanks though.

ps : What does "If I were a native speaker of English, I would never shut up.)" mean? does it mean that native speaker should talk all the time?

 

[Tdol]

By now- the person has just learned something new that means that it might not be a rejection, so what they had previously thought is no longer true.

PS- No,it doesn't. It means that the person doesn't speak as much as he or she wants, but would find it much easier to talk if he or she were a native speaker.

PPS If you have a separate question, please start a new thread. Thanks.

 

[Roman55]

Thanks, but still confused...then why did B use "by now" at the end of the sentence?

I am not a teacher.

Because B doesn't speak properly. I would hazard a guess that B didn't graduate in English.

 

[shhop319]

Ok. I will start a new thread with a different question. thanks.

Sorry but still I don't understand. B said I had essentially written that off as a reject by now.

Does it mean that he thought that means rejection up to this moment? (I mean, a very before now)

and now he think differently?

If so, why did he use past perfect? I think just using past seems fine. (I wrote that off a rejection by now )

And confused about the purpose of "off" here. I don't think that word is necessary in this sentence.

Thanks!

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, it means that right up until a couple of moments ago when Person A spoke, Person B had assumed that the result was a rejection. Based on what Person A said, Person B has now revised that assumption.

As far as "why did he use past perfect?", did you read the contents of post #6.

 

[shhop319]

Thanks. Sorry but I am a new user and still not feels comfortable for this site. Could you tell me what post #6 means?

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks. Sorry but I am a new user and still not feels comfortable for this site. Could you tell me what post #6 means?

Being a new user has no bearing on whether or not you understand a post. Post #6 said "I am not a teacher. Because B doesn't speak properly. I would hazard a guess that B didn't graduate in English."

Which part do you not understand?

 

[shhop319]

Oh, I just thought post #6 means something like grammar lesson on the other forum or thread. I didn't realize that you were saying a post in this thread.

So... "I would hazard a guess that B didn't graduate in English." means his sentence was wrong. So if he says "I wrote that off a rejection by now", it should be better..am I right?

 

[bhaisahab]

Oh, I just thought post #6 means something like grammar lesson on the other forum or thread. I didn't realize that you were saying a post in this thread.

So... "I would hazard a guess that B didn't graduate in English." means his sentence was wrong. So if he says "I wrote that off a rejection by now", it should be better..am I right?

No. "Until now I had written that off as a rejection" would work.

 

[emsr2d2]

Oh, I just thought post #6 means something like grammar lesson on the other forum or thread. I didn't realize that you were saying a post in this thread.

So... "I would hazard a guess that B didn't graduate in English." means his sentence was wrong. So if he says "I wrote that off a rejection by now", it should be better..am I right?

It was suggested that "rejection" would be a better choice than "reject".
Your question which led to post #6 was to do with why the writer used "by now". That was the reason post #6 said "Because B doesn't speak English properly".