ahem... in my perspective, if somebody says that you are different. you should bring positivity into the mood. you ought to think that you are different in a good way. don't put "it's the regular me" in your dictionary entries, bad idea. so, somebody says to you, "You look different today." "Thank you. You notice that. I feel better than the yesterday's me. Feel so energized and ready to shake the world. Just see me rolling and i could be your inspiration." That's the kind of response that will blow everybody's mind and bring fresh air into the room ;) your next homework is to walk the talk. if you think you are more awesome than yesterday, appreciate your life more by doing things that make you feel to be living the life to the fullest.

Your questions are mind-boggling. It's attracted me to chime in and add some explanations to others'. >> 6.They shook hands politely, while Tubertini scornfully surveyed the tiny silver of a restaurant.(silver? and why say "a restaurant" instead of "the restaurant") It seems that you mistakenly read the original text. Let me recite the passage again below: "Lazarov arrived first and did not wait for a table. He knew from experience the crowd thinned around 4 P.M., especially on Thursdays. He ordered a glass of red wine. The waitress tipped the hourglass above his head, and the race was on. He sat at a front table, facing the street, his back to the other tables. He was a heavy man of fifty-eight, with a thick chest and ponderous belly. He leaned hard on the red-checkered tablecloth and watched the traffic on Forty-sixth. Thankfully, Tubertini was prompt. Less than a fourth of the white sand was wasted on him. They shook hands politely, while Tubertini scornfully surveyed the tiny sliver of a restaurant. He flashed a plastic smile at Lazarov and glared at his seat in the window. His back would face the street, and this was extremely irritating. And dangerous. But his car was just outside with two of his men. He decided to be polite. He deftly maneuvered around the tiny table and sat down." It should be sliver and not silver. Reading from the context, Tubertini seems to be a composed, elegant aristocrat who is into perfection and fancy things. The phrase " Tubertini scornfully surveyed the tiny silver of a restaurant" practically means that Tubertini was gazing at the wooden sliver normally found covering the floor or decorating the wall or the roof of a restaurant. This implies that the restaurant they were in, was a shoddy restaurant to Tubertini's standard. ------ I’m game. (?) This is a famous expression you can find in Hollywood movies or breaking news. The phrase means "I'm in". To a broader sense, it's usually a response said to answer a challenge. For e.g: A: They said that you won't be running for the presidency. (A negative statement to challenge the interviewee) B: I'm game to run for the office (B will compete with other presidential candidates for a seat on the president desk)

Examples given by Faiz are correct. In economy, you say percentage increase or decrease relative to previous measure. GDP, PCI, revenue, growth, etc are measured annually. Naturally, it is implicitly hinted that an increase/decrease in a specific year is relative to the previous year's value. More examples: Statement: The 2010 GDP was increased by 5% Implicit meaning: The 2010 GDP was increased by 5% compared to the 2009 GDP Statement: In 2011, the company recorded double digit revenue growth for the first time since its inception Implicit meaning: In 2011, the company recorded revenue increase by more than 10% compared to its revenue in 2010

@Hazel

I know that in marketing there is a term called "focus group" where you solicit opinions from your prospective customers. I beg to differ since I believe that it's the matter of how well you predict people's behavior without asking them. Once Henry Ford said about the first car he ever built, "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they 'd have said a faster horse". So, put faith in your idea and execute it in a manner that make people awed.

You may have known the answer to this but let me ask to clarify. What makes your service different than the one offered here?

Anyway, please let me know if you are ready to go live. I'm a fan of language teaching in a class setting but these days I can't afford it because of time. If you are successful to change my mind and make me use the service, I owe you a treat.

@Tiraj

Don't be so offensive, buddy. If you carefully read the context, she was not disrespecting your opinion. You suggest her to provide a free service, which she actually does. The difference is that the free service is for learners who are willing to pay for quality tutors and aiming at steeper learning curve of Korean language. This is something that you may have overlooked.

To use Google as an analogy, it provides free service but if you are an advertiser, you have to pay Google when somebody clicks your ad. I think she also applies similar business model; the service is free but when a student signs up for a tutor session, the tutor will be charged petty sum of money.

And this is just my opinion, if one never cares about the business model when offering a new service, s/he will finally abandon or simply go bankrupt funding the "charity project".

To add more into this discussion, there is a close association between being down to earth with not being too much exclusive as if you were a freaking-some special creature from another world/planet (this is why it's called "down to earth"). Such exclusiveness may make that individual/group estranged from what common people perceive about life or the subject matter.