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

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

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

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

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

“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.”

"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.”

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

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

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

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