an English question

@dufresne (137)
China
May 18, 2009 9:28pm CST
In the sentence "When we announced the deal, the Los Angeles Times reported,"As he has so many times before, Trump has spotted a trend to tap.", what does "tap" mean, "utilize" or "follow"?
2 people like this
3 responses
scarlet_woman
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
22 May 09
utilize would probably be a good term. it's finding a new resource,basically. like "tapping a bottle" would be opening up.
thinkingoutloud
@thinkingoutloud (6127)
• Canada
19 May 09
To "tap" a trend is similar to "tapping" a maple tree to obtain sap... it means to investigate and make use of the trend for his benefit. Here's a definition for "tap" that might seem logical in your sentence: "to penetrate, open up, reach into, etc., for the purpose of using something or drawing something off; begin to use: to tap one's resources."
technoobs
@technoobs (406)
• Philippines
19 May 09
from that sentence, it refers that tap means to follow rather utilize. Taking into account the whole sentence, it does not merely state to utilize since no process has been spoken, so it might rather be to follow.