English term
slow right down
Driving learning
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Driving Instructor: OK. Once the pedestrians have either cleared or there are none, then you can proceed forward.
Driver: Right.
Driving Instructor: OK. Now, as we're looking up again you scanning left way up, you see the lady on the bicycle?
Driver: Aha.
Driving Instructor: OK, to the right, and maybe we'll make a right turn into this next street. OK. Now our right directional signal, which is up. Good.
Driver: OK.
Driving Instructor: We slow right down, a glance at your mirror.
Driver: OK.
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We slow right down ← ← ←
I know "slow down" means "decelerate; slow; ...".
But what does "slow right down" mean?
What does "right" mean in this sentence?
Thank you
Jan 5, 2022 15:59: writeaway changed "Field (write-in)" from "(none)" to "basic English expression"
Jan 5, 2022 16:01: Jennifer White changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): Tony M, Rob Grayson, Jennifer White
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Responses
United States
Six languages into flawless English
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 4 more.
decelerate to a very slow speed
| Thank you so much, philgoddard |
| agree |
Hernán Vázquez
6 mins
|
| agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
: Would it be also right to say that this ''right'' is equal to ''completely''? Healthy New Year 2022!
35 mins
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No, but happy new year!
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| agree |
Tony M
: Yes, of course, no other idiomatic interpretation possible IMHO. And no, here it can't mean "completely" (tho' it sometimes does) because that would have to mean 'come to a complete halt'
1 hr
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Exactly! Thank you.
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|
| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Jennifer Levey
: Best, if not only, option in this specific context. Mileage will vary in other contexts.
7 hrs
|
| agree |
Badri Seyed Jalali
: to reduce speed to a much slower, or very slow, rate.
17 hrs
|
| agree |
AllegroTrans
2 days 46 mins
|
Iran
Experienced Medical/Law/IT Translator
Native in: Persian (Farsi) (Variant: Iranian (standard))
Works in: English, Persian (Farsi) to English, English to Persian (Farsi), and 1 more.
"right" is an informal adverb which adds a friendly meaning of "quickly, obediently, responsively"
(informal) immediately, without delay
I’ll be right with you(I am coming very soon)
"right" is an informal adverb which adds a friendly meaning of "quickly, obediently, responsively"
A: May we come for a visit?
B: Sure, come right over!
"We slow right down" means: “we slow down immediately/very soon.”
"right" means: quickly, obediently, responsively, very soon
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Note added at 31 mins (2022-01-04 15:12:35 GMT)
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Perhaps there are regional differences in the meaning of this sentence. One of the other references gives the meaning of "slow right down" something like this:
To slow right down = to reduce speed to a much slower, or very slow, rate.
| Thank you so much, Ms. Zaker |
| disagree |
philgoddard
: This is the same as the first answer, and equally wrong.
7 mins
|
|
Perhaps there are regional differences in the meaning of this sentence
|
|
| disagree |
Tony M
: No regional differences: this interpretation just isn't possible in idiomatic EN, the word order would have to be "slow down, right?"
1 hr
|
| disagree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
: 'I'll be with you right away' is another way of saying 'soon but not immediately'. Likewise in the source sentence 'right' means: slow down but not come to a complete stop.
3 hrs
|
| disagree |
Rob Grayson
: Nope. It just means "slow down significantly".
1 day 51 mins
|
| disagree |
AllegroTrans
: Totally misunderstood
2 days 44 mins
|
| disagree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: No "regional differences" at all! This interpretation simply isn't correct and 100% CL is OTT
7 days
|
Discussion
Thank you so much, Tony, Tina, Sabrina, Badri, Jennifer, Hernán, Anastasia, Sabrina.
But in Asker's example, the snese of 'right' is 'to a great extent / to the fullest extent' — as Anastasia says, the latter meaning is possible in some contexts, but not here, where it would go against logic; in fact, 'slow down' = 'decelerate', and the 'down' is not far from being the kind of non-preposition found in phrasal verbs.
Try a different verb: trying to get hold of something high, I might say to someone "Reach right up and see if you can grab it". In this case, Bernhard's interpretation could work — but would be the less likely interpretation to most native speakers of EN.