Question

In the following sentence, what does the underlined phrase mean? 
A good teacher is one who sees to it that a student does not waste time in reinventing the wheel?

• A. repeating oneself
• B. waste time on unnecessary details
• C. doing something that has already been done
• D. waste time in imaginary things

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

The phrase "reinventing the wheel" is commonly used to describe a situation where someone does something over again unnecessarily, typically something that has already been established or accomplished effectively in the past. In the context of the sentence, the phrase refers to a teacher ensuring that a student does not spend time unnecessarily on tasks or problems that have already been solved. 

1. The sentence is: "A good teacher is one who sees to it that a student does not waste time in reinventing the wheel."
2. The key here is understanding the expression "reinventing the wheel." This means doing something that has already been done, which is often a waste of time since efficient methods or solutions are already available.
3. Let's analyze the given options to understand which fits best:
   • Option 1:

repeating oneself

• - This implies saying or doing something over again, but not specifically related to solving a problem already addressed by others.
• Option 2:

waste time on unnecessary details

• - This suggests spending excessive time on minor or insignificant parts of a task. Although related to inefficiency, it does not capture the idea of redundancy inherent in reinventing something already completed.
• Option 3:

doing something that has already been done

• - This directly matches the meaning of "reinventing the wheel" and aligns with avoiding repeating tasks with existing solutions.
• Option 4:

waste time in imaginary things

• - This refers to spending time on unreal or non-existent tasks, which is different from what the phrase implies.

1. Based on these analyses, the correct interpretation of "reinventing the wheel" in this context is "doing something that has already been done."

Therefore, the correct answer is Option 3: doing something that has already been done.