Will you please tell me what the sentence below means?
They are almost out of energy.
Best Answer
The phrase I'm out of energy means: I'm tired, and not energetic.
The phrase is used in various contexts, and could be used to describe mental energy or physical energy.
For example, a basketball player might be out of energy, and ask for a sub to come into the game, so he can rest on the bench.
Or, on Friday afternoon after a hard week at work, a teacher may be out of energy. This means – those essays her students just handed in? She will carry them home, and grade them on Saturday after a good night's rest. She doesn't have enough mental alertness to deal with them right now.
I'd also say that the phrase is somewhat figurative. Many times, people who say they are "out of energy," actually have could be more energetic, but they are just wanting to relax. For example, the basketball player is probably not on the verge of collapsing, but he probably won't play very good defense. The teacher probably could grade the papers if she really needed to, but it's not an ideal time to do so.
The expression could also be used to describe teams, too, and not just individuals:
After the German team scored their first two goals, the Brazilian team seemed to lose their energy.
This doesn't necessarily mean that the Brazilian team looked tired, but it could also mean that they looked discouraged, and played with no heart.
The phrase 'out of' can be used to talk about manufacturing or creating something by using one or more ingredients or constituents. We make an omelette out of eggs and butter. We can make a house out of (among other things) bricks, stone blocks, etc. In the 1980s a British insurance company advertised its fuss-free approach to claims with the slogan "We won't make a drama out of a crisis".
You did not state the source of your sentence. It is from a short story called 'Rain' by W Somerset Maugham. A Christian missionary is talking about converting the indigenous inhabitants of a Pacific island to Christianity. One of the central beliefs of the Christian religion is that everyone is a 'sinner'. A 'sin' is an action forbidden by the Christian god, and for which the sinner is required to obtain forgiveness from the god, or else go to a bad place after they die. Since the islanders previously had no idea of 'sin', missionaries tried to make them believe that some natural actions that they did were forbidden by God. Thus 'sins' were manufactured in their minds. The Christian churches often made sins out of natural (e.g. sexual) actions which provided a source of guilty feelings. Maugham is being cynical here.
Best Answer
The phrase I'm out of energy means: I'm tired, and not energetic.
The phrase is used in various contexts, and could be used to describe mental energy or physical energy.
For example, a basketball player might be out of energy, and ask for a sub to come into the game, so he can rest on the bench.
Or, on Friday afternoon after a hard week at work, a teacher may be out of energy. This means – those essays her students just handed in? She will carry them home, and grade them on Saturday after a good night's rest. She doesn't have enough mental alertness to deal with them right now.
I'd also say that the phrase is somewhat figurative. Many times, people who say they are "out of energy," actually have could be more energetic, but they are just wanting to relax. For example, the basketball player is probably not on the verge of collapsing, but he probably won't play very good defense. The teacher probably could grade the papers if she really needed to, but it's not an ideal time to do so.
The expression could also be used to describe teams, too, and not just individuals:
This doesn't necessarily mean that the Brazilian team looked tired, but it could also mean that they looked discouraged, and played with no heart.