Business Idioms

“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.”

• ask other people for advice

• start again from the beginning

• reuse a good idea from the past

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5B

CCSS.L.5.5B

“Our sales estimates were way off the mark. We’d projected sales of $15M, but the actual numbers were closer to $9M.”

• too optimistic

• higher than average

• very wrong/inaccurate

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5B

CCSS.L.5.5B

“The text for the article is almost perfect. I just want to tweak one or two sentences.”

• remove

• make small adjustments

• make longer

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

“I need to submit a weekly report on this project, so please keep me in the loop.”

• informed / updated

• working hard

• in the office

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

“Three people from my department are on vacation, so I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment.”

• I have a lot of responsibilities

• I wish I was on vacation, too

• I have nothing to do

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5B

CCSS.L.5.5B

“The rule of thumb is to reinvest no more than 30%, but it’s OK if you go over that number occasionally.”

• minimum amount

• strict limit

• general practice

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5B

CCSS.L.5.5B

“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 e-mail.”

• correct a mistake and say the truth

• express a different opinion

• get permission

Tags

CCSS.L.3.3A

CCSS.L.4.3A

CCSS.L.5.3A

CCSS.L.6.3A

CCSS.L.6.3B

"We have until December to prepare these documents, so let’s put them on the back burner for now. We have other, more urgent projects.”

• send them back to their origin

• give them low priority

• finish them quickly

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5B

CCSS.L.5.5B

“That program never produced any significant results, so the director finally decided to pull the plug.”

• get personally involved

• improve the technology

• stop, discontinue

Tags

CCSS.L.9-10.5A

“Yesterday’s meeting lasted four hours… but in a nutshell, we decided to close our office in India and open a branch in China.”

• in an argument

• in the end

• in summary

Tags

CCSS.L.1.6

CCSS.L.5.6