Business communication idioms (ESL Brains)

• The committee will certainly take your opinions on board before making a

decision.

• guess something that is not expressed directly

• something that people can agree about, especially when they disagree about other things

• consider an idea, problem, or situation and try to deal with it

What does the idiom in yellow mean? He told a few jokes to break the ice.

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Answer explanation

do or say something that makes people feel less shy or nervous in a social situation

Reading between the lines , I'd say he isn't happy with the situation.

• read a text or email very carefully and paying lots of attention

• guess something that is not expressed directly

• try to read and make sense of a text which is not clear enough

It seems increasingly unlikely that the two sides will find any common ground.

• a situation that shows you something surprising that you did not know before

• a good or interesting aspect of something

• something that people can agree about, especially when they disagree about other things

I’ll be happy to take a back seat when Robin takes over.

• deliberately become less active, and give up trying to control things

• stop working and just watch

• go back to your previous position

I got off on the wrong foot with Patrick.

• be in a bad mood because you met someone you can't stand

• find someone annoying

• immediately establish a bad relationship with someone when you first meet them or first start working with them

What does the idioms in yellow mean? Living in another country can be a real eye-opener.

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Answer explanation

a situation that shows you something surprising that you did not know before

Draw something that represents one of the idioms we've seen in class so far