Nobody Makes Bad Progress

Nobody Makes Bad Progress Nobody Makes â€Å"Bad Progress† Nobody Makes â€Å"Bad Progress† By Maeve Maddox Three times during a radio interview, a White House spokesman stated that something was â€Å"making good progress.† It occurred to me how often I hear the expression â€Å"good progress† uttered by politicians and administrators of various stripes. We are making good progress towards introducing a bill that will advance that goal.- A US senator. U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan acknowledged that [our state] is making good progress on our Race to the Top plans.- A state governor. We have been making good progress in three important areas.- A school principal. FTA is making good progress on developing more detailed guidance on which we will seek comment in the near future.- An FTA spokesman. The word progress, both noun and verb, derives from the Latin verb progredi: â€Å"to go forward, proceed, advance.† The English noun progress is defined as â€Å"the process of a series of actions through time.† As a verb, progress means, â€Å"to proceed, advance,† â€Å"to follow an expected course or pattern.† â€Å"Good progress† is bureaucratic-speak. It sounds good without meaning anything. It’s enough to say, â€Å"The FTA is making progress on developing more detailed guidance.† Progress may be rapid, slow, encouraging, delayed, or uncertain, but to say it is good is to pad language. â€Å"Good progress† is often accompanied by other meaningless phrases like â€Å"in the near future,† and â€Å"grounds for optimism.† Ordinary speakers may be forgiven for using the occasional clichà ©, but politicians and others who wish to advance themselves by swaying public opinion should be aware that coming from them, â€Å"good progress† signals a desire to avoid specifics. Note: The pronunciation of progress differs, according to whether it is used as a noun or as a verb. progress (noun): PRAH-gres (American); PRO-gres (British) progress (verb): pruh-GRES Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:75 Synonyms for â€Å"Angry†Homogeneous vs. HeterogeneousPersonification vs. Anthropomorphism