Use Of Finished?

ForumsVocabulary & Idioms
  •  1
+1

Hi

Is the use of finished natural in these sentences? (It's very common in Indian English.)

A - Can I please have some more cake?

B - Sorry, it's all finished.

You still have your chocolates or are they all finished?

Thanks,

Tom

+0

In American English:
It's all gone.

Comments  

Hi

Yes, that's perfectly good. You can use 'all' as an adverb to mean 'completely'

It's probably used more in conversation or informal writing; less so in a formal report

- I live all alone: when I've washed one cup, one bowl, that chore's all finished.

Dave

Students: We have free audio pronunciation exercises.
Mr. TomIs the use of finished natural in these sentences?

In my US dialect, "finished" is not impossible, but it is very unusual. We say "gone".

 AlpheccaStars's reply was promoted to an answer.

Thank you, AStar, Dave and Anon.

I asked this question primarily because in Indian English, the use of finished in the following context is also very common. Could you please tell me word would an American or British speaker use here instead of finished?

  1. I cannot prepare lunch because (the?) oil is finished.
  2. I could not do the laundry because the detergent was all finished.

Thanks,

Tom

Site Hint: Check out our list of pronunciation videos.

American.

I can't prepare lunch because we're out of oil.

I couldn't do the laundry because we're out of detergent.

That structure, "the oil is X", cannot be used in my dialect.

Answer this Question

Guides