meaning

Question

On another thread I've read this sentence: "what is she like?" And someone answered that this expression has the follow meaning as well :" Would you look at her! Isn't obvious to all of us that she is behaving like a complete and total idiot and that she will be seriously embarassed when she sees the photos tomorrow."
But I didn't understand this explanation. Can anyone explain me what this means?
Thanks a lot.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

On another thread I've read this sentence: "what is she like?" And someone answered that this expression has the follow meaning as well :" Would you look at her! Isn't obvious to all of us that she is behaving like a complete and total idiot and that she will be seriously embarassed when she sees the photos tomorrow."
But I didn't understand this explanation. Can anyone explain me what this means?

A great deal of what we say depends very much on factors like the context, the tone of voice, who we are speaking to, etc. eg What are you doing? can be a genuine question or an expression of surprise, shock, doubt, etc.

It's the same with What is she like? This can be a rhetorical question, where the speaker is not expecting an answer. The implied answer is She is like an idiot. The speaker is just inviting the person he is speaking with to consider how foolish 'she' is.

Actually, these words are not totally natural. More common would be something like What does she look like? or What does she think she is doimg?

Best wishes, Clive

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