down-to-earth
Hello everybody!

I'm slightly confused. I was doing an English exercise and I came across the following sentence. "He’s very famous, but he’s still modest and ___??___ .I’ve written “shy”, but it was not correct. One of the italke users has written that I shoud have used "down-to-earth". He wrote, "Your answer to 2), "shy", looks ok to me but when that phrase is used about people, it usually ends with "down to earth" or "grounded"."
So, I checked the dictionary and the entry for "down-to-earth" says "sensible and practical".

Could you please explain what REALLY "down-to-earth" mean and why this word is one of the best choices (if not the best) in the sentence "He’s very famous, but he’s still modest and ___.."

Thank you very much!Entry from another dictionary: If you say that someone is down-to-earth, you approve of the fact that they concern themselves with practical things and actions, rather than with abstract theories.

Question

down-to-earth
Hello everybody!

I'm slightly confused. I was doing an English exercise and I came across the following sentence. "He’s very famous, but he’s still modest and ___??___ .I’ve written “shy”, but it was not correct. One of the italke users has written that I shoud have used "down-to-earth". He wrote, "Your answer to 2), "shy", looks ok to me but when that phrase is used about people, it usually ends with "down to earth" or "grounded"."
So, I checked the dictionary and the entry for "down-to-earth" says "sensible and practical".

Could you please explain what REALLY "down-to-earth" mean and why this word is one of the best choices (if not the best) in the sentence "He’s very famous, but he’s still modest and ___.."

Thank you very much!Entry from another dictionary: If you say that someone is down-to-earth, you approve of the fact that they concern themselves with practical things and actions, rather than with abstract theories.

Answer

'Down to earth' means 'humble', realistic.
You can use humble, i think.

Answer

To give an example, some political leaders are good leaders because they talk to ordinary people in a normal way. You could be neighbours. They are not faking it - they have managed to stay normal despite their great success.  Last year, a political leader in the UK met a family affected by a flood in their house.  One lady in her house told him that it was her birthday so he spontaneously sang her "Happy Birthday" in her house.  Some people took that as a sign of being down-to-earth.  Most politicians don't do that.

Answer

In my opinion, as Medina suggested, "humble" is a good choice to come with "modest". It's the rater "formal" form of "down-to_earth"

Answer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFUkp5HsFs

Answers · 8

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