如果某人或某事被形容为 makes the grade, 意思是说他们达标了，符合要求，成功了。但这个短语往往用于否定句式，比如当什么事情没做好或不符合要求的时候。请注意以下例句中这个短语的用法。

例句

The marking of exams has been tougher this year and many students just didn't make the grade.

This work is awful. It simply doesn't make the grade.

I have every confidence in you and expect you to make the grade.

请注意

当你 grade someone down on something 这就是说你给别人的表现打低分，这是因为他们可能犯了某个错误。

I'm afraid I had to grade you down on your essay for poor spelling.