do little more than

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Tuongvan

#536603 Fri, 04 Jul 08 01:00 PM

Hi teachers ,
Please help me understand the phrases in bold type below:

1/The improved road system did little to decrease the accident rate

2/ BOGOTA, Colombia - Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week's bold rescue.

Thank you in advance

Tuongvan

Joined on Sun, Dec 30 2007

Regular Member (588)

van

Doll

#536611 Fri, 04 Jul 08 01:20 PM

My try:

1/The improved road system did little to decrease the accident rate.

This sentence means the improved road system didn't do much to decrease the accident rate. Also we can say that the accident rate wasn't decreased much despite the improved road system or we can say that the accident rate was almost same despite the improved road system.

2/ BOGOTA, Colombia - Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week's bold rescue.

This sentence I sense that the writer is a bit dissappointed by the endeavours by Hugo Chavez. He/she says that he could try to to do more things, he could work more, he could change more things than just to phone to President A.U. to congratulate him.

I hope you I can help you with at least one of my sentences.

Doll

Joined on Sat, Mar 10 2007

Turkey

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CalifJim

#536715 Fri, 04 Jul 08 06:43 PM

Tuongvan
The improved road system did little to decrease the accident rate

The improved road system did not do very much to make the number of accidents become less than before. The road system was not very effective at reducing the number of accidents.

Tuongvan
Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week's bold rescue.

Hugo Chavez was not able to do much more than congratulate Uribe by phone. He had to be satisfied with making the phone call. There was almost nothing more he would have been able to do.