I got an offer from a uni from the UK, and I am almost determined to accept the offer although I still have two more alternatives. I emailed my supervisor during my MA study to let her know my intention. She is an experienced lecturer who definitely knows a lot about the universities in the UK.
And here is an excerpt from her reply:
Congratulations on the PhD place at XXX - a great university, you'll be well looked after there. It's good that you have supervision on the area you are so interested in. You're not too far from XXX so perhaps you'll pop over for a visit some time! In fact you could come and talk to our MAs about moving from Masters to PhD, reasons for doing it, finding an area of interest, the whole process of applying etc!
What I am worried about is the sentence "you'll be well looked after there". Does it imply anything or should be understood literally? I know she LOVES to use euphemism in her speech. As I am a non-native speaker of English, I am not very sure about how I can interpret this sentence and would like to seek your advice.
Thank you very much in advance.
Native Brit here. No, you have no reason to worry - she's just saying the department should be friendly and supportive. Perhaps she knows people who study or work there. Either way, it's an innocuous phrase with no deeper meaning. So enjoy your place - and congratulations!
Absolutely agree with laebae! But I can also understand your concern as a non native speaker. Seriously - it means nothing at worst and what laebae says at best! Congratulations and all the best in your PhD journey :-) Great that you'll be maintaining links with your former university as well.
Ps. Loving all things to do with language and pragmatics, I have to add...
if it was used in another context... for example, say you had just received a sentence and were going to a notorious prison in South America, and someone said that...
... then it could have very different connotations (e.g., you might expect to experience some violence and be lucky to come out alive)!
Hope that helps : )
Many thanks to you all, Tudor_Queen, laebae and profkmorrell.
I think I am just getting all too nervous maybe because I have lived the recent year in my own country (China) where I sometimes have to read between lines or else I will find myself in trouble. I got a bit of reverse cultural shock on that when I came back from the UK to China. And now seems it's time to adjust myself to the UK style once again.
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