Oil

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New2grammar  #538300  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:30 PM
 Canada produces more oil than it needs and most of the excess is sold to the US. It turns out that Canada sits on gold mine. It's estimated that Canada has one of the biggest oil reserves in the world with most of it in the form of oil sands.

Are there any mistakes?
Thanks.
  
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optilang  #538303  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:33 PM

I would prefer

It turns out that Canada is sitting on a gold mine.

Others may not.
  
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Mister Micawber  #538308  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:39 PM
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Canada produces more oil than it needs, and most of the excess is sold to the US. It turns out that Canada is sitting on a gold mine (?). It's estimated that Canada has one of the biggest oil reserves in the world, with most of it in the form of oil sands.

'Gold mine' is a poor choice here, since we are already talking about another mineral, oil.  Metaphors when too close to their source context, become lame (much as did 'bottom facing'-- wasn't that your phrase also, New2 ?).  If you were very adept, you could turn the lame metaphor into an appropriate and much more effective pun by writing that ' Canada is sitting on a black gold mine'-- since 'black gold' is an epithet for 'oil'.
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New2grammar  #538309  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:39 PM
Canada has one of the biggest oil reserves

Thanks, Optilang. Is the above OK? It means Canada only has one big oil reserve. I usually hear the pural even though the news talks about one country.
  
optilang  #538310  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:41 PM

New2grammar
Canada has one of the biggest oil reserves

Thanks, Optilang. Is the above OK? It means Canada only has one big oil reserve. I usually hear the pural even though the news talks about one country.


It sounds OK to me

It has one of the biggest reserves in the world.
  
New2grammar  #538313  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:42 PM
Mister Micawber
Metaphors when too close to their source context

MM, Could you help me understand this?

Mister Micawber
much as did 'bottom facing'-- wasn't that your phrase also, New2 ?). 

Yes. It doesn't sound as good as bottom toward as you suggested but I still don't quite understand why it's not good.
  
Mister Micawber  #538319  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:48 PM
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The metaphoric content is too near the literal content.  'Bottoms' (as in human bottoms) do not 'face'-- the face is at the opposite end of the item.
Similarly, oil is not gold, but both are mined minerals in a real sense.  'Sitting on a gold mine' loses its effectiveness as a figure of speech when it can be confused in the context with an actual gold mine.
.
  
New2grammar  #538321  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:50 PM
Thank you, MM.
  
RayH  #538326  Tue, 08 Jul 08 02:57 PM

Mister Micawber
'Sitting on a gold mine' loses its effectiveness as a figure of speech

I have to disagree MM. "gold mine" is a well understood idiom and doesn't engender any confusion in the context of N2G's original post.
  
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