Birds Eye Q&A: Does a bird's eye view have anything to do with birds?

by Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the BPL

Question by SchoolSucks: Does a bird’s eye view have anything to do with birds?
I live in a Spanish country where English is taught as a second language (like Spanish or French is taught in the US), and there was this question about a travel article that asked “Where can you go bird watching?”, and in the article it said “go to ***** to get a bird’s eye view of the rainforest” or something really close to that. I told my teacher that bird’s eye view has nothing to do with bird watching and just because you have a bird’s eye view it doesn’t mean that you can see birds, but my teacher told me that the answer was ***** because you can get a bird’s eye view from there. That was the only place in the article where the word “bird” was mentioned but I don’t think that matters anyway. So who is right, me or my teacher?

If you want to help me some more here are some other doubts(I posted these questions before but didn’t get clear answers):

Also, she wrote “Are you agree to work long hours in your work?” I told her it was wrong to write it like that but she asked me why and I really couldn’t explain it, all I told her is that it doesn’t make any sense. So she ignored me and said it was correct because she saw a question written like that once in a text book she used. So can someone explain to me why it is wrong? What grammar rule is it breaking? Or maybe, is it right?

She also asked in a classwork assignment “What is the hottest job in your country?” And I told her that hottest, as in popular, wasn’t really a good word to use because it was very informal. Then she told me that she asked another teacher and he said it was perfectly fine. The truth is that I didn’t understand the question because I would have never thought she would use that term like that. So who is right, me or the teacher?

Finally, she writes “gotten points” on tests to write how many points the students obtain out of the total. So I told her that “earned points” sounds much better. I guess it’s because gotten sounds informal or something like that. Then she told me that in the university she attended the tests said “gotten points” and that was the way she was taught. So is “gotten points” right, and are there much better ways to say it?

Best answer:

Answer by Jackson V
To see things from “a bird’s eye-view” only means to see it from a distinctive elevation. You get a “bird’s eye-view” of New York from atop the Empire State Building, for example.

And as for that second part, your teacher would be incorrect. It should be “Do you agree to work long hours for your work?”

It sounds as if your teacher may want to rethink her knowledge of proper grammar in the English Language.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Tags:anything, Birds, view