“He's an amazing athlete, but his technique is sloppy.”
You're talking with a friend about the basketball team at a local university. You describe one of the players, whose performance is sometimes disappointing.
He's an amazing athlete, but his technique is sloppy.
Want Video and Sound? Follow us on YouTube
an athlete
An "athlete" is someone who plays or competes in sports seriously.
You can also use the word "athlete" to describe someone's general athletic ability. This phrase:
He's an amazing athlete.
...might mean that this person is really good at a particular sport, or it might mean that he has high athletic ability in general. He can run, jump, throw, etc. well.
(someone's) technique is sloppy
A person's "technique" means how correctly they perform a physical skill. You can use this phrase to talk about a wide variety of skills like:
- throwing a ball
- shooting a gun
- swimming
- playing a piano
You can use a variety of adjectives to talk about a person's technique:
Her technique is almost perfect.
His technique is poor.
One common adjective is "sloppy". "Sloppy" means dirty or unorganized. A person with "sloppy" technique doesn't perform the skill in the correct way. They may do it a little differently each time.