0
Perfect Stranger Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary

Vocab question no. 58: sort out or go through?

Howdy (again)

If there's a huge pile of documents on a desk, would you say:

- I have to go through these documents.
- I have to sort these documents out.

Or something else? I guess there's better expression but I can't come up with anything else.

Cheers
  

Top answer

I have to go through these documents . = I have to read/understand them. I have to sort these documents out .

  • I have to go through these documents .
  • = I have to read/understand them.
  • I have to sort these documents out .
  • = I have to organize them.
  • Perfect Stranger Or something else?
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

3 Answers
0
I have to go through these documents. = I have to read/understand them.
I have to sort these documents out. = I have to organize them.
Perfect StrangerOr something else?
It depends on what you want done with them.
0
Thanks MM.

Is there any other way to express this: I want to look at each paper and see if it's important or not and if yes, I'll keep it, if not, I'll throw it away.
0
I think you should start with either of your originals, but then explain a little more:

I have to go through these documents and keep the important ones
I have to sort these documents out and throw away the unimportant ones.

Related Questions