January 31, 2021

Business Lessons:

• Jump in: To interrupt to say something during a meeting, presentation, etc.
• Excuse me, May I jump in?
• I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. (You arrived at a scheduled meeting late.)
• That’s a great question Albert. Can I get back to you on that? I’ll need to think about it a bit. OR I’ll have to do a bit of research on that.
• If you feel it is difficult to explain in words during you teleconference, you should use an online whiteboard.
• Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today. = Don’t wait for the last minute to do your homework.

Conversation Lessons:

hung you out to dry: To abandon someone who is in need or in danger, especially a colleague or one dependent. Friends don’t say they tried to save your job when, really, they hung you out to dry.

Can’t blame a guy for trying. (It never hurts to ask.)

You don’t know unless you ask/try. (It never hurts to ask.)

Once per two months: Once every two months – Once in two months

Bi-weekly/monthly/annual = two times in a week/month/year

• Fortnight (UK): They’d traveled over a fortnight from Ireland from Greece and back again.
• Fortnightly (UK): Adverb: every two weeks

• take it out on someone/something. take it out on (someone or something) To punish or mistreat someone or something as a means of expressing or giving vent to a strong, typically negative, emotion, such as anger or aggression.
• Hey, don’t take it out on me. Steve scratched your car, not me!

• Local:  existing in or belonging to the area where you live, or to the area that you re talking about.
• We’d better check on the match in the local paper. 
• Some local residents joined the students’ protest. 
• I was going to pop up to the local library

Confusing to Students:

• Responsible for vs In charge?

Being in charge implies power or control over a thing or people, while being responsible for just means you bear the responsibility of doing something or taking care of people.

• Spectator vs Audience: An audience is a group of people who gather formally to view an event. A spectator is a person who views an event; he may be part of a group, or not. In addition, “spectators” is a term that refers to an audience at certain types of events. For example, a play or movie has an audience, while sporting events and street performances have spectators.