mixed blessing: meaning and explanation
If you say that something is a mixed blessing, it means that something has positive and negative aspects, advantages as well as disadvantages.
It is often used to point out that something which people assume is a very good thing also has some drawbacks or negative aspects. e.g. The new rail development may turn out to be a bit of a mixed blessing for the village. It will be much easier to get to London, but noise pollution is likely to increase. For this reason, this expression would usually be used with a slightly negative meaning.
Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?
Listening exercises
Dictation #1
Accent: North America
About the sentence
...apparently it can actually be a mixed blessing...
Apparently is used to introduce an idea or opinion which you have heard from someone else. You are saying that it may not be true, but it is interesting.
It is often used when you are gossiping, e.g. Apparently, Michael's been having an affair for the last 2 years.
Dictation #2
Accent: Northern England
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Dictation #3
Accent: Scotland
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Extra practice
Here are some questions/links to help you learn the new vocabulary:
- Can you think of an example of something which is generally assumed to be a very good thing, but which might actually be a mixed blessing?
- Do you agree with the speaker in the first dictation, who thinks that winning the lottery might be a mixed blessing?
An example could be to receive a gift from somebody but actually the person that is giving you that maybe wants something from you in exchange. so that it could be a mixed blessing.
Yes, I agree because when you win the lottery maybe you can have needs to cover with that money but you can be so happy that you dont thing in the future and you can spend all the money in things that are not important.
Great example! Has this ever happened to you?
A couple of quick corrections:
Careful about which prepositions you use with the verb ‘think’ in English. We can use ‘to think of sth’ (= to have an idea) or to think about sth (= to consider sth). So your example should be: “maybe you don’t think about the future”.
With the verb ‘spend’, we need to use the preposition ‘on’. So your example should be: “you can spend all the money on things that are not important”.
Can you think of an example of something which is generally assumed to be a very good thing, but which might actually be a mixed blessing?
An example for me in this case could be when someone is single, people consider that the person feels lonely and is not happy so that’s why people look for a couple. However, the marriage is not easy and sometimes people get divorce. So be married is a mixed blessing.
You’re right Javier – being in a relationship can be great but also comes with problems 🙂
Be careful with ‘couple’. In English, this word refers to the two people together. For example, if you are saying that two people are married or in a relationship, you can say that they are a couple.
When you refer to an individual in a relationship, you can use ‘partner’ (or boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife etc). So in your example, you should say: “that’s why people look for a partner”.
An example of the mixed blessing can be having your own business. It seems businessmen have a lot of money and free time for doing their hobbis and careless life, but actually many company owners have bigger problems due to the bigger responsibility, and often dive into their business missig up a lot of really important things like spending time with families etc.
Talking about winning a lottery – I absolutely agree with the auther as a lot of money can bring more problems than blessing to those who never have had it.
Thanks Tanya, excellent examples. I agree with you about running your own business. I have some suggestions/corrections:
1) Read here about careless vs carefree (I think you should use carefree in your sentence).
2) Careful with the word order when using the present perfect. The end of your second example should be: “A lot of money can bring more problems than blessings to this who have never had it.
Well done!
At the moment I can’t remember something that could be a mixed blessing.
And I really agree with the example of the activity because I’ve already seen a program on TV talking about some people that become poor again after win the lottery because they only spent the money.
Thanks for your comment Viviane 🙂
One tiny correction I would make: be careful with using ‘before’ and ‘after’ in English: you need to use either an -ing form, a noun or a sentence after these words (e.g. After winning the lottery/After my lottery win/After I won the lottery). Thanks!
Thank you for your comments – very useful!