student asking question

Why would the speaker use the word "abandoned" here? Is that because the developed economies discarded the old system?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Exactly! “Abandoned” has the meaning of “discarded” or “thrown away” here, to indicate the gold standard system was disposed of and replaced with something else. Ex: The man abandoned his rundown truck at a junkyard. Ex: The food scraps were thrown away in the garbage.

Complete the expression with a quiz!