James Baquet

    Ming is chatting with his classmate Mark in the common room of their dorm.

    Ming: Hey, Mark. Can I ask you a question?

    Mark: Sure!

    Ming: My coach said something about the tennis team making a “clean sweep.” What does that mean? We didn’t sweep anything!

    Mark: I understand your confusion. Often the word “sweep” refers to doing something completely, and the word “clean” reinforces the idea.

    Ming: I think I get it. In a recent tournament our team won all the trophies — men’s singles, men’s doubles, and so on.

    Mark: Congrats! So that was a “clean sweep.”

    Ming: Can you give me some other examples of “sweep” being used that way?

    Mark: No problem. To be “swept away” could be literal, like “The homes were swept away by the storm.” But it could be figurative.

    Ming: For example?

    Mark: Well, your money problems could be swept away by a new job. Or your tennis fans could be swept away by the excitement of your “clean sweep.”

    Ming: I see.

    Mark: In fact, at the moment the results were announced, they might have been “swept up” in the excitement.

    Ming: Is that like “caught up”? Carried away?

    Mark: Exactly. There’s also a proverb: “A new broom sweeps clean.”

    Ming: Meaning?

    Mark: Sometimes when there’s a change in personnel, things improve quickly.

    Ming: Like a new manager can turn a business around?

    Mark: That’s right. Or a new teacher can help students make better progress. “Sweep” can also just refer to a style of moving, too.

    Ming: How do you mean?

    Mark: If we say someone “swept into a room,” we mean he or she came in grandly, like a king or queen.

    Ming: Okay.

    Mark: And of course, sometimes sweep just means sweep.

    Ming: To use a broom, right?

    Mark: Right. But even there, we have a couple of figurative expressions.

    Ming: Like?

    Mark: To “sweep something under the rug” means to hide something, especially wrongdoing.

    Ming: Can you explain?

    Mark: Of course. You catch your friend cheating on a test. You tell him to turn himself in. He says “no.” So you say you will turn him in, because this can’t just be “swept under the rug.”

    Ming: Good one! You said there were a couple of expressions?

    Mark: Yes. The other is to be “swept off one’s feet.”

    Ming: Oh, I know this one! When I started going out with my girlfriend, I bought her flowers and candy and I swept her off her feet!

    Mark: That’s right! I remember how she fell for you, Romeo!