lesson 9 business idioms part 1 idioms
are short phrases with meanings that are
different from the meanings of their
individual words idioms are different
from slang idioms are in between formal
and informal so they are acceptable in
everyday English conversations and
emails including some communication at
work slang is very informal and is
usually used in humor music and
conversations between close friends
formal English is used in official
business legal and academic areas casual
English includes idioms and is used in
everyday conversation and emails and
informal English can use slang you'll
find that in humor and music slang is
almost never used in business English
but idioms are often used in
conversations and emails so I'm going to
introduce you to some common idiomatic
expressions this is the method will use
for learning the idioms first look at
the example of the idiom in context then
try to guess the meaning of the idiom
then wait for the answer and explanation
why do I recommend these three steps
well it's important to try to figure out
the meanings of the idioms from the
context this helps you think actively
about the expressions and learn to
understand new expressions faster ready
let's begin number one we showed the
president 20 ideas for new products but
she didn't like any of them so we had to
go back to the drawing board does go
back to the drawing board mean a ask
other people for advice be start again
from the beginning or see reuse a good
idea from the past go back to the
drawing board means be start again from
the beginning designers and engineers
often draw a picture of a product as the
first step
its development so going back to the
drawing board means to start again at
step one of a process number two our
sales estimates were way off the mark
we'd projected sales of 15 million but
the actual numbers were closer to nine
million does way off the mark mean a too
optimistic be higher than average or see
very wrong or inaccurate way off the
mark means see very wrong or inaccurate
this idiom comes from the sport of
archery where arrows that do not hit the
target are said to be off the mark the
word way means very so way off the mark
means very inaccurate number three the
text for the article is almost perfect I
just want to tweak one or two sentences
does tweak mean a remove be make small
adjustments or see make longer tweak
means be make small adjustments I don't
know the origin of this word but it can
be used as either a noun or a verb you
can say I want to tweak one or two
things or I want to make a few tweaks to
talk about minor adjustments number 4 I
need to submit a weekly report on this
project so please keep me in the loop
does in the loop mean a informed or
updated be working hard or see in the
office in the loop means a informed or
updated you can also say the opposite
out of the loop if you are not being
informed or updated about a project or
news number 53 people from my department
are on vacation so I've got a lot on my
plate at the moment does I
got a lot on my plate mean a I have a
lot of responsibilities be I wish I was
on vacation to or see I have nothing to
do I've got a lot on my plate means a I
have a lot of responsibilities if you go
to a buffet and you put a lot of food on
your plate then you are obligated to eat
it all so having a lot on your plate
means you have many tasks or
responsibilities number six the rule of
thumb is to reinvest no more than thirty
percent but it's okay if you go over
that number occasionally does rule of
thumb mean a minimum amount be strict
limit or see general practice rule of
thumb means see general practice a rule
of thumb is a general rule or general
practice that may have exceptions in
some situations this is your thumb if
you use your thumb to measure something
you can get a general idea but the
measurement will not be perfectly
accurate so a general rule with
exceptions permitted is called a rule of
thumb number seven Bob said I missed the
deadline but I want to set the record
straight i submitted my work on time but
he didn't check his email does set the
record straight mean a correct a mistake
and say the truth be express a different
opinion or c get permission set the
record straight means a correct a
mistake and say the truth when there is
a misunderstanding or something was
falsely reported you should set the
record straight say what is true so that
people have the correct understanding of
the situation number eight we have until
december to prepare these documents so
let's put them on the back burner for
now we have other more urgent project
does put them on the back burner mean a
send them back to their origin be give
them low priority or see finish them
quickly to put something on the back
burner means be give it low priority
this idiom comes from cooking the
picture shows a stove with four burners
if you are cooking multiple things at
the same time you put the less important
items which don't need your attention on
the back burner and you put the items on
which you are actively working on the
front burner so to put something on the
back burner is to temporarily give it
low priority and less attention number
nine that program never produced any
significant results so the director
finally decided to pull the plug does
pull the plug mean a get personally
involved be improve the technology or
see stop or discontinue pull the plug
means see stop or discontinue the
picture shows a plug if you pull remove
the plug of your television from the
source of electricity the television
will stop working so to pull the plug on
a project or program means to
discontinue it number 10 yesterday's
meeting lasted for hours but in a
nutshell we decided to close our office
in India and open a branch in China does
in a nutshell mean a in an argument be
in the end or see in summary in a
nutshell means see in summary when you
summarize a lot of information in a
short phrase or explanation you can
begin the statement with in a nutshell
the picture shows nuts the shell is the
hard exterior of the nut a nutshell is
very small so when you put a lot of
information
into a small number of words you can say
in a nutshell to express the fact that
you are giving a summary number 11 Laura
didn't go to the meeting could you send
her a summary of the discussion to bring
her up to speed does bring her up to
speed mean a help her work faster be
give her the most recent information or
see find out what her perspective is
bring her up to speed means be give her
the most recent information if someone
is up to speed it means they are fully
informed about the latest information so
to bring or get someone up to speed is
to give them the most recent information
so that they can be up to date on the
current situation number 12 don't make
any changes without talking to Peter
he's the one calling the shots on this
project does calling the shots mean a
communicating with the supervisor be
making the important decisions or see
working very hard call the shots means
be making the important decisions the
person who is calling the shots is the
one who has authority to decide what
must be done and other people must
follow his or her instructions now take
the quiz to put these idioms into
practice and come back tomorrow for your
first progress test to review what
you've learned so far
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