# it was a pushover to  / It takes up approximately 25 minutes



## olives

Hey,

"Then, following the guidelines that I wrote down on a paper from the website hostels.com before leaving France, it was a pushover to find the Hostel. In fact, it takes up approximately 25 minutes or so."

I just wanted to know what suggestion is the best please.
"take up" or just "take".

Thanks.

PS: "following the guidelines that I wrote down on a paper from the website hostels.com before leaving France" is this sentence a bit heavy?


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## jiayun416

I would say the sentence is too long, break it into smaller sentences. 

"By following the guidelines from hostels.com, which I wrote down on a piece of paper just before leaving France, it was easy to find the hotel. In fact, it only* took *me approximately 25 minutes or so."

You have to be consistent with tense, you used "wrote" and "was", so it would be a good idea to use "took" instead of "takes up"


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## olives

a pushover means it's a piece of cake. So it wasn't hard


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## olives

hold on hold on...

I reworded it... Hope it's much clear!

"In fact, by the time I get on the metro and I took a connection, it just takes up approximately 25 minutes or so, to leave the underground and find myself in Bayswater street."

Can I say "take a connection" in order to say "une correspondance" in english?


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## jiayun416

olives said:


> a pushover means it's a piece of cake. So it wasn't hard




Thanks, I never knew that. Well, I edited my post.


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## olives

THANKS!

hmm... well i decided to use a "child's play". If you don't know "pushover", maybe it's not a good idea.


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## olives

"By following the guidelines from hostels.com, which I wrote down on a piece of paper just before leaving France, it was a child's play to find the youth hostel. In fact, it only took me approximately 25 minutes or so, by the time I got on the train, that I took a connection and I left the underground"

Should I say "by the time I got  on the train, I took a connection and I left the underground" or "by the time I got on the train, that I took a connection and that I left the underground".

The first one sounds better, no?


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## RocketGirl

olives said:


> a pushover means it's a piece of cake. So it wasn't hard


 
No, a pushover is only used to describe a _person_ who is _easy to manipulate_. It cannot be used in this context as it isn't a person you're talking about, and it can't be manipulated.

Off the top of my head, here's one example of how you can use the word pushover:

Person 1: "Were you able to convince your boyfriend to move that furniture for you?"
Person 2: "Yeah, he's a real pushover. He'll do anything I tell him to."


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## olives

Yes, you would call that "un pigeon" in french.

But in my dictionary (no offence! lol), there's also "jeu d'enfant" for pushover.

Examples:
"the exam was a pushover"
"the match will be a pushover"

What do you think about these sentences?


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## RocketGirl

olives said:


> "the exam was a pushover"
> "the match will be a pushover"


 
Sorry, like I said, you're not talking about a person who can be manipulated in either of these.  It simply doesn't work.


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## RocketGirl

"By following the guidelines from directions on hostels.com, which I wrote (jotted) down on a piece of paper just before leaving France, it was a child's play easy to find the youth hostel. In fact, it only took me approximately 25 minutes or so by from the time I got on the train that I took a connection and to the time I left the underground"


I'm only guessing at your last sentence here because I wasn't quite sure what you were saying.  As for the word "jotted" which I put in brackets, I prefer it to the word "wrote", although "wrote" is correct.


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## olives

I like "jot down" too. I try to use this word more often.

Thanks.


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## Coppers

olives said:


> Yes, you would call that "un pigeon" in french.
> 
> But in my dictionary (no offence! lol), there's also "jeu d'enfant" for pushover.
> 
> Examples:
> "the exam was a pushover"
> "the match will be a pushover"
> 
> What do you think about these sentences?



This is used in this way quite often in Britain, but I think in this context, "child's play" is best.


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## olives

That's why you have to be suspicious of Canadian English lol.


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## peanutbutter30

If i need to have my essay check how would I got about doing this?


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## translocatedwombat

Coppers said:


> This is used in this way quite often in Britain, but I think in this context, "child's play" is best.



Where in Britain are you from? Lol 

The term 'pushover' is an americanism, use with caution, I'd say. I also agree with RocketGirl (and her rendering), this could originally refer only to people, but as it's pretty colloquial anyway the meaning has since become applicable to wider concepts. If you were to use 'child's play', you leave out the article, so 'it was *a* child's play to find the youth hostel', instead.


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## Coppers

translocatedwombat said:


> Where in Britain are you from? Lol
> 
> ..



Heh, good point, "child's play" is widely understood but not really used in spoken English.

"It was a doddle" is better.


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## emma42

"Pushover" is used in British English to mean both an easily manipulated person and a situation easy to deal with.

I disagree that "child's play" is not used in spoken English.  Also, "It's a doddle" is much more slang/non-standard.


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## la reine victoria

"Child's play" is used in conversation where I live, but not very often.  "It was a piece of cake" is often used colloquially.




LRV


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## Coppers

emma42 said:


> "Pushover" is used in British English to mean both an easily manipulated person and a situation easy to deal with.
> 
> I disagree that "child's play" is not used in spoken English.  Also, "It's a doddle" is much more slang/non-standard.


It's not really slang, it's just less formal. "Piece of cake", as already mentioned, is the best one to use.


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## emma42

*Slang *- "...words and usages not forming part of standard language, only used very informally...". (Chambers).

"Doddle" is slang, coppers, my friend.


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## Nicomon

If I had to choose a "superlative", I would definitely write "it was piece of cake". I never heard "doddle", and don't like pushover in this context (mind you, I'm Canadian ). However imho, there may be another solution.

My try (to be improved on...)
"I found the youth hostel easily, by following the directions on hostels.com that I jotted down on a piece of paper just before leaving France. In fact, from the time I got on the train, connected, and left the underground, I was there in less than half an hour."


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## emma42

I don't know why people are so keen to have the "jotting/writing" happening "just before" leaving France, rather than simply "before" leaving France.  She might have written down the information a week before leaving France, unless I've missed something.


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## Nicomon

emma42 said:


> I don't know why people are so keen to have the "jotting/writing" happening "just before" leaving France, rather than simply "before" leaving France. She might have written down the information a week before leaving France, unless I've missed something.


 
I agree entirely. In fact had first left out "just" ... go figure why I added it back.


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## Coppers

emma42 said:


> *Slang *- "...words and usages not forming part of standard language, only used very informally...". (Chambers).
> 
> "Doddle" is slang, coppers, my friend.


"Doddle" is only _quite_ informal, not _very_ informal though.


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## emma42

Alright, coppers!  It's still slang, though.


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## Nicomon

I wonder if it's necessary to specify "on a piece of paper." 

My second try... 2 options

"I found the youth hostel easily, by following the directions from hostels.com that I jotted down before leaving France. In fact, from the time I got on the train, connected, and left the underground, I was there in less than half an hour, 
*or* 
Finding the youth hostel was a piece of cake, by following the directions from hostels.com which I wrote down before leaving France. In fact, I was there in approximately 25 minutes, from the time I got on the train, connected, and left the underground."


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## Coppers

I'd go with:

Thanks to the directions on hostels.com that I *had written down*, it was easy to find the hostel. It took me just 25 minutes from getting on the train to leaving with tube station.


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## Nicomon

Coppers said:


> I'd go with:
> 
> Thanks to the directions on hostels.com that I *had written down*, it was easy to find the hostel. It took me just 25 minutes from getting on the train to leaving with tube station.


 
I LOVE your concision Coppers.


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## RocketGirl

olives said:


> That's why you have to be suspicious of Canadian English lol.


 



Well Coppers, not surprised to find you in disagreement with me again  .  Thanks for backing me up Nicomon  ... we Canadians have to stick together, you know.  I have also never heard "it's a doddle" and even with the context I have a hard time believing it makes any sense. I would have put a big red X beside that one too if a native English speaker hadn't written it.

Anyway, as far as your sentence, I'd say with everyone's help, it's pretty much been perfected !


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## emma42

Of course "it's a doddle" makes sense! (to a British English speaker).  It's commonly used in England.


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## RocketGirl

Coppers said:


> Thanks to the directions on hostels.com that I *had written down*, it was easy to find the hostel. It took me just 25 minutes from getting on the train to leaving with tube station.


 
I've changed my mind about the sentence being perfect.  The bit in question for me is the word "with" that I've highlighted in blue.  I'm not British, so maybe that's how you say it over there, but to me it should read "the" not "with"


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## Nicomon

RocketGirl said:


> I've changed my mind about the sentence being perfect. The bit in question for me is the word "with" that I've highlighted in blue. I'm not British, so maybe that's how you say it over there, but to me it should read "the" not "with"


 
I agree. Didn't mention it, as I thought it might be a British difference.


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## emma42

I'm sure it was just a typo.  It's not a British English usage.


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## Coppers

Yes, it was a typo, thanks!


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## totallylost202

Desolée de faire reviver ce fil, mais voici ce qui arrive quand on n'aide pas nous les anglais en retour. 

Comment traduirait-on _it was a pushover_ dans ce contexte alors?

_C'était du coton/gnognotte? _


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