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I'm trying to phrase a sentence in which I'm wishing that something goes easily for someone, but can't get the wording to sound right, and not awkward.

For example, someone may be studying for a test and I wish that their studying goes easy. These are the phrases I could come up with.

  • I hope it goes easy for you.
  • I hope the studying goes easy for you.
  • I wish you the best in studying.
  • I'm hoping the studying goes easily for you.
  • Good luck studying. (I don't really like this one since it's a bit vague)

Any other suggestions?

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3 Answers 3

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Good question. The reason this one is awkward is because OP specifically wants to sound positive about the experience of studying, not the outcome of the exam which follows.

In the general case of an action, we tend to say I hope you enjoy your [action]. But that's a rather odd thing to say about studying in this context, since OP implies it's basically an arduous task where the best one could hope for is that it shouldn't be too arduous.

I personally wouldn't like to use easy in this context because OP certainly doesn't want to encourage the person to take it easy - probably quite the opposite, in fact. If it's important to retain the 'easiness' concept, maybe I hope you don't find the studying too arduous.

I don't much like the word studying in this context either, so I'd suggest I hope the revision goes well if OP doesn't like Good luck with...

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  • I particularly like "I hope you don't find the studying too arduous." It conveys an empathy that the other suggestions don't, because it recognizes that studying can be difficult.
    – Kit Z. Fox ♦
    May 20, 2011 at 1:21
  • @Kit: I can empathise with that! :-)
    – FumbleFingers
    May 20, 2011 at 1:33
  • I like your suggestion. The only thing I would change is the word "arduous" since it's not too common of a word. Do you have any suggestions for more commonly occurring synonyms to use instead?
    – Senseful
    May 20, 2011 at 3:22
  • @Senseful: Hard, tough, trying, difficult, taxing, demanding, laborious, painful?
    – FumbleFingers
    May 20, 2011 at 10:47
  • +1: "I hope the studying isn't too painful" sounds good to me!
    – Senseful
    Jul 23, 2012 at 9:07
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How about:

Hope everything goes smoothly for you."

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    Idiot: Hah hah. Your suggestion neatly sidesteps the awkwardness of singling out the studying as opposed to the exam. Bit of a cop-out, semantically speaking, but doubtless that's what most people would actually say.
    – FumbleFingers
    May 20, 2011 at 1:19
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I hope your studies go well for you.
I wish you the best with your studies.

(I find it easier to migrate the gerund to an unambiguous noun.)

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