The company has been developing new technologies since last year, and has finally achieved preliminary results recently. General Manager Bill excitedly announced at the meeting: "We have come a long way." Many people present interpreted Bill's meaning as "We have been walking ( working hard) for a long time." ", in fact, this sentence has a deeper meaning... The following three related terms can be learned together: We have come a long way.
(X) We walked for a long time. (O) We have made great progress. A person walks a long way, and the destination he wants to go will naturally get closer and closer. Therefore, using come a long way means "great progress and great progress", which is equivalent to make great progress. Information technology has come a long way in the last 20 years . You really convert raster to vector have come a long way with your interpersonal skills. Your interpersonal skills have improved a lot. I'm sure she'll go far. (X) I'm sure she will travel far. (O) I'm sure she'll be great in the future. Go far and come a long way are just a contrast, and also use "go far" to mean "achievement and promise".
But pay attention to the spoken language You've gone too far. It does not mean that you are very promising, but means "you are too much". You will go far in scientific research field. You will be very successful in the field of scientific research. He is in the running for promotion. (X) He's running around doing promotions. (O) He is very promising for promotion. In the running is not "in the race", but expresses "there is a good chance of winning, and there is a great chance of winning", usually followed by the preposition for, and then the thing that has a chance to win. Jerry is in the running for a management post. Jerry has the opportunity to be promoted to supervisor . Further reading My boss said "The presentation was tight!" to my presentation.Is it a positive or negative? When a foreigner asks us "What's new?", he doesn't expect us to tell him anything new