ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by punctuality,

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a distant dream for those who live in big cities. Yeah. Been there. Not fun.

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Check out the following sentence.

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I would hate to set a precedent by arriving late for the lecture.

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All right, the word precedent most nearly means what?

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Standard, endeavor, consequence, redundant, redundant, redundant, redundant...

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[ toilet flush ]

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Yeah.

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All right, well, unless we're trying to make a fashionable entrance,

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arriving late doesn't make a great impression.

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And even in the fashion world, it's not always that great.

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So what does it mean to not want to set a precedent?

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Well, B - endeavor means an attempt or an undertaking.

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But unless we're somehow embarking on some strict regimen

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of lateness, being late to the lecture isn't an endeavor.

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And C - consequences are effects or conclusions of an action.

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We might receive a consequence for being late,

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like study hall or whatever, but it's not something we'd set out ourselves.

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And D - redundant is an adjective meaning repetitious.

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And D - redundant is an adjective meaning repetition.

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And D -- Okay, that's enough. You get the idea.

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Grammatically, it doesn't even fit into the sentence.

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A precedent is a standard or example set by a first case.

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You don't want to set a bad standard by being late on the first day.

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So option A is the correct answer.

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Maybe setting our clocks for a few minutes early will help us

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be on time. Unless we live in L.A. with

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all that traffic. Then we're basically doomed.

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Redundant, redundant, redundant, redundant.

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