Leave a place for good

Dear Dr English,

My colleague said she was leaving Thailand for good. What does she mean?

Sudara Wichienjuya

The phrase Òfor goodÓ means Òfor the last timeÓ or Òcompletely and permanentlyÓ. In this case, your friend was telling you that she was leaving Thailand permanently and will not come back.

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Finally/eventually

Dear Dr English,

I am not sure how to use ÒfinallyÓ and ÒeventuallyÓ in a sentence and need some explanations and examples. I hope you can help me.

Somporn Lertritti

Both ÒeventuallyÓ and ÒfinallyÓ are adverbs; they give us details about the verb they modify. ÒFinallyÓ is used in a few different contexts. In the first case we use it - especially at the beginning of a sentence - to say that something is last in a series of actions, events or ideas. It has the same meaning as ÒlastlyÓ.

After many rounds of gift presentations, finally it was JackÕs turn to give his farewell speech.

It also means Òin a way that will not be changedÓ as in:
The budget was finally approved.

When something happens after a long time or with difficulty, we use ÒfinallyÓ to explain the situation, too.

After 20 hours of travelling on various forms of transportation, we finally reached AndreaÕs home in rural Mexico.

And this meaning is the antonym of ÒeventuallyÓ.

After 20 hours of travelling on various forms of transportation, we eventually reached AndreaÕs home in rural Mexico.

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