Business Idioms

Business Idioms

By Waine Evans

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 e-mails, including some communication at work. Slang is very informal, and is usually used in humor, music, and conversations between close friends.

• Formal: Official business, legal, academic English

• Casual: Idioms, everyday conversation, e-mails

• Informal: Slang, humor, music

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​Slang is almost never used in business English, but idioms are often used in conversations and e-mails - so I'm going to introduce you to some common idiomatic expressions.

This is the method we'll use for learning the idioms:

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1. Look at the example of the idiom in context

2. Guess the meaning of the idiom

3. Wait for the answer and explanation

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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.

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Ready? Let's begin!

Multiple Choice

Idiom 1:

"We showed the CEO, 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

Multiple Choice

Idiom 2:

"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 or inaccurate

Multiple Choice

Idiom 3:

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

• remove

• make small adjustments

• make longer

Multiple Choice

Idiom 4:

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

• informed or updated

• working hard

• in the office

Multiple Choice

Idiom 5:

"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

Multiple Choice

Idiom 6:

"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

Multiple Choice

Idiom 7:

"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

Multiple Choice

Idiom 8:

"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

Multiple Choice

Idiom 9:

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

• get personally involved

• improve the technology

• stop, discontinue

Multiple Choice

Idiom 10:

"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

Multiple Choice

Idiom 11:

"Laura didn’t go to the meeting. Could you send her a summary of the discussion to bring her up to speed?"

• help her work faster

• give her the most recent information

• find out what her perspective is

Multiple Choice

Idiom 12:

"Don’t make any changes without talking to Peter. He’s the one calling the shots on this project."

• communicating with the supervisor

• making the important decisions

• working very hard

Multiple Choice

Choose the best idiom to complete each sentence in the dialogue below.

Diane: I’ve been away for the past couple of weeks, can you ______ on this project?

• calling the shots

• tweak

• in a nutshell

• back to the drawing board

• bring me up to speed

Multiple Choice

Bill: All the specifications are in the shared folder… but ______, the client wants us to create an e-commerce site.

• calling the shots

• tweak

• in a nutshell

• back to the drawing board

• bring me up to speed

Multiple Choice

Diane: That sounds pretty straightforward. How’s it going?

Bill: It’s taking forever! They keep wanting to ______ the design, and they never seem satisfied.

• calling the shots

• tweak

• in a nutshell

• back to the drawing board

• bring me up to speed

Multiple Choice

Diane: But you must be getting close, right? At least they haven’t made you go______.

Bill: Actually, they did that last month. I had to come up with a whole new design.

• calling the shots

• tweak

• in a nutshell

• back to the drawing board

• bring me up to speed

Multiple Choice

Diane: Why are they being so picky? Who’s ______ on this project in the client’s company?

• calling the shots

• tweak

• in a nutshell

• back to the drawing board

• bring me up to speed

Multiple Select

Bill: I’ve been working with the marketing director, but the problem is that she’s been keeping the CEO ______, and he makes suggestions that are ______. He doesn’t know a thing about websites.

• way off the mark

• on the back burner

• in the loop

• a lot on your plate

• rule of the thumb

Multiple Choice

Diane: What kinds of things does he want?

Bill: Here’s an example, the ______ in web design is to use font size 14 or greater, but he wants the text as small as possible so more can fit on the page.

• way off the mark

• on the back burner

• in the loop

• a lot on your plate

• rule of the thumb

Multiple Choice

Diane: Sounds like you’ve got ______. Anything I can do to help make things easier?

• way off the mark

• on the back burner

• in the loop

• a lot on your plate

• rule of the thumb

Multiple Choice

Bill: You’ve got a way with words, maybe you can talk to them and explain that if this site doesn’t get done soon, I’ll have to put it ______. We have other clients who need our help, too.

• way off the mark

• on the back burner

• in the loop

• a lot on your plate

• rule of the thumb