Archive for February, 2015

grammatical expression: a mile a minute

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Today I’d like to write about the expression “a mile a minute”. We use it when we want to talk about something or someone going very fast. Let me give you some ways to use it in sentences.

That tour guide was talking a mile a minute, so I couldn’t understand her at all.

I’m so excited right now. My heart is beating a mile a minute.

Bob and Dan were going a mile a minute on the hike, so I couldn’t keep up with them.

I don’t like to use my Spanish when I go to Mexico because when people respond to me, they usually speak a mile a minute. I have to improve my listening skills.

We usually only use this expression in grammatically positive sentences.

The feeling this expression has is usually a little negative, but sometimes it can be neutral in tone, as in my second example.

We often use this expression when we want to express the idea that a person is speaking very quickly. This is the case of my first and fourth examples.

Please note that we always use the word “mile”, but we cannot substitute the word “kilometer” for it. This would sound very strange in English.