Express Yourself
Business (formal) expressions:
Apologizing
I'm sorry.
I made a mistake.
Please accept my apologies.
I'm sorry. I didn't mean to . . .
(I'm) sorry. I didn't realize that . . . .
That's okay.
No problem.
Prefacing bad news
I'm sorry (I have) to tell you this, but . . .
I hate to tell you this, but . . .
I don't know how to tell you this, but . . .
I have some bad news.
(Formal) written apologies
We regret to inform you that . . .
Regretfully, . . .
Unfortunately, . . .
Business Introductions
Informal
This is my boss, Mr. Stratford.
Jared, this is my secretary, Barbara.
Good to meet you.
Nice to meet you too.
I'd like you to meet my co-worker, Collin Beck.
Collin, this is Susan Palmer.
Nice to meet you.
My pleasure.
Have you met, Jason?
Jason, this is Teresa.
Hi, I'm Jill Watson.
I don't believe we've met. I'm Greg.
Business Introductions
Formal
I'd like to introduce you to my dear friend, Mrs. Pleasant.
Allow me to introduce myself/my colleague, Ms. Winters
Let me introduce you to my colleague, Dean Richards.
Mr. Richards, this is David Porter from Aerospace Inc.
How do you do?
How do you do?
It's a pleasure meeting you.
Important body language to remember: Smile, eye contact, firm handshake.
Find more useful business expressions at the website below:
http://www.eslgold.com/business/useful_expressions.html
Test your ability with English expressions (and more) at this site:
http://www.english-test.net/
-
More Idioms!
At the end of your rope
(USA) If you are at the end of your rope, you are at the limit of your patience or endurance.
At the end of your tether
(UK) If you are at the end of your tether, you are at the limit of your patience or endurance.
At the fore
In a leading position
At the top of my lungs
If you shout at the top of your lungs, you shout as loudly as you possibly can.
At the top of the list
If something is at the top of the list, it is of highest priority, most important, most urgent, or the next in one's line of attention.
At the top of your voice
If you talk, shout or sing at the top of your voice, you do it as loudly as you can.
At your wit's end
If you're at your wit's end, you really don't know what you should do about something, no matter how hard you think about it. If you are at your wits' end, you have no idea what to do next and are very frustrated.
Average Joe
An average Joe is an ordinary person without anything exceptional about them.
Avowed intent
If someone makes a solemn or serious promise publicly to attempt to reach a certain goal, this is their avowed intent.
Away with the fairies
If someone is away with the fairies, they don't face reality and have unrealistic expectations of life.
Awe inspiring
Something or someone that is awe inspiring amazes people in a slightly frightening but positive way.
AWOL
AWOL stands for "Absent Without Leave", or "Absent Without Official Leave". Orignially a military term, it is used when someone has gone missing without telling anyone or asking for permission.
Axe to grind
If you have an axe to grind with someone or about something, you have a grievance, a resentment and you want to get revenge or sort it out. In American English, it is 'ax'.
-
French expressions commonly used in English.
1. "adieu" (Literal meaning: 'until God')
Used like "farewell": when you don't expect to see the person again until God (when you die and go to Heaven)
2. "à la mode" (Literal meaning: 'in fashion' or 'in style'
In English, this means "with ice cream" - apparently someone decided that having ice cream on pie was the fashionable way to eat it.
3. "cul-de-sac" (Literal meaning: bottom or (butt) of a bag)
In English this simply means: Dead-end street.
4. "déjà vu" (Literal meaning: already seen)
In English, déjà vu refers to the scientific phenomenon of feeling like you have already seen or done something when you're sure that you haven't.
5. "faux pas" Literal meaning: false step, trip and fall.)
In English this means; something that should not be done, a foolish mistake or a cultural mistake. Something that is taboo in that culture or place.
For more French expressions used in English go to this website:
-
Focus: Hyperbole (as you may know) are (like metaphors) used very frequntly in the English language. At times an English idiom will translate easily into your native language, but more often than not idioms carry with them unique characteristics, found in the history and traditions of an individual country.
Hyperbole (pronounced "hy-PER-buh-lee."
Hyperbole is: a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, and is not meant to be taken literally.
Some common examples include:
* "He has a brain the size of a pea."
* "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
* "If I've told you once, I've told you a million times."
* "She is one-hundred feet tall."
* "Everything around me feels small."
-
More Idioms!
To effectively use idioms, they should be practiced in real life situations. Studying idioms should be treated like an extension of studying new vocabulary. Memorization may have its place for you, but practical use is quickly becoming the agreed upon (best) method for learners among EFL teachers and researchers.
Here are a few idioms taken from www.idiomsite.com
-
Focus: Expressions.
"Have a go" = TRY. I want to have a go at that math problem.
"Go down" = HAPPEN. What went down at the party yesterday?
"Goof up" = MADE A MISTAKE. I really goofed up at work yesterday.
"Grand" = 1 thousand. I need to save about a grand to fly home next year.
"Groovy" = Strangely pleasant. That band's music last night was really groovy.
-
pun [noun]
-A play on words, sometimes on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.
A pun is a very specialized used of language. As you know in English (and many lanugages) words can have two or more meanings. With this is mind, see if you can understand the following puns:
1. My girlfriend criticised my apartment, so I knocked her flat.
---This is one of the more common form of puns. The pun was created by alluding to the fact the word flat could have meant an apartment, or alluded to the girlfriend being knocked flat on her back.
2. 'Seven days without laughter makes one weak'.
----Some puns play on words that sound alike, but are spelled differently, and mean different things. Weak / Week
3. A music teacher not at home may leave a note on their door saying, 'Gone Chopin, Bach in a Minuet'.
----Double-sound puns refer to a word sounding similar to another word, however not identical to the sound of a word, such as; Chopin meaning "shopping" in the example above.
-
Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. Metaphors are a way to describe something. Authors use them to make their writing more interesting or entertaining.
Unlike similes that use the words “as” or “like” to make a comparison, metaphors state that something is something else.
A few examples of metaphors:
"Love is a rose."
"All the world is a stage." ~Shakespeare
"No man is an island . . ." (John Donne)
------------------------------
English is a Crazy Language
An Excerpt from the Introduction, by Richard Lederer
Let's face it -- English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese... One blouse, 2 blice?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that you comb through annals of history but not a single annal? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? If you wrote a letter, perhaps you bote your tongue?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?
How can a "slim chance" and a "fat chance" be the same, while a "wise man" and "wise guy" are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while "quite a lot" and "quite a few" are alike? How can the weather be "hot as hell" one day and "cold as hell" another?
Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent? Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown? Met a sung hero or experienced requited love? Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable? And where are all those people who are spring chickens or who would actually hurt a fly?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm clock goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race (which, of course, isn't a race at all). That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?
Now I know why I flunked my English. It's not my fault, the silly language doesn't quite know whether it's coming or going.
----------
1.) "All Your Base Are Belong To Us"
The phrase "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" is from a Japanese video game called Zero Wing. It was a bad translation that turned into a joke among gamers. It now appears on many websites having nothing to do with video games.
This is mainly an 'online' idiom. As the world becomes more global, mistakes in languages are often remembered because they are 'cute,' or funny. My mother still asks me, "Where you go?' as a joke even though she knows very well, it should be: "Where have you been?" or "Where are you going?"
2.) Back Seat Driver
This idiom comes from the habit many people have of giving too much advice (unwanted advice) to the driver of a car from the backseat. This idiom means 'someone who watches and criticizes.'
3.) Close but no Cigar
If you come close to achieving success but reach a disappointment due to failure you are 'close but no cigar'. Many years ago slot machines gave out cigars as prizes. Also, early carnival games also gave out cigars as prizes.