English Idioms Expressions and Phrases that Anyone in Business Should Know

we’re on hi everybody welcome back to

our weekly live stream my name is Alisha

and today we’re going to talk about

business idioms in English I’m going to

cover about 15 different

business-related

English idioms I’m going to talk about

what these expressions mean and the

kinds of situations we might use them in

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yeah hello everybody okay as I said

today we’re going to talk about business

English idiom so these are idioms we use

in business English yes but you can use

these in situations outside of business

these are also common idioms outside

of business you will notice a very

common theme for many of these

expressions is sports and sports so

sports kind of often connects to these

business expressions okay I am going to

share today’s video and then begin the

lesson okay

so I’ve broken today’s lesson I’ve made

today’s lesson into three parts we’ll

look at five expressions in each part so

let’s begin with this expression so this

we use this expression as a set

expression to do things by the book or

to do something by the book so we can

change this expression to be singular or

plural to do things by the book means to

do something following a standard or a

rule so to follow to follow a standard

or rule so that means you’re going to do

something in exactly the same way that

activity or that action has been done in

the past I’m going to do this by the

book so that means I’m not going to try

to do something special so for example

like in our weekly live stream videos I

am probably I’m going to do things by

the book by presenting some information

on the whiteboard and explaining things

checking the chat and so on

that’s like the standard for our English

live streams so that’s in our case what

it means to do something by the book to

follow an established rule of some kind

and yes someone asked is this British or

American English these are American

English idioms American English okay

next expression here is to get something

off the ground to get something off the

ground

so the ground it’s in your in your

building it’s the floor yes but the

ground is the lowest point on the earth

yeah so to get something off the ground

you can imagine like an airplane that

might be a helpful image for this

expression to get something off the

ground means to successfully start

something to successfully to

successfully start something so we

usually use this for a new project

so maybe you’re making a new project or

you’re making like a new series or

you’re beginning something that’s very

big to get something off the ground we

use this a lot in business and in like

creative projects so for hobbies as well

too so to get something off the ground

is generally a good thing it means you

successfully started something

you successfully started something so

generally a good thing to get something

off the ground okay on to the third one

here to keep one’s eye on the ball to

keep one’s eye on the ball this is

another well this is maybe our first

sports-related idiom here to keep your

eye as you might hear it to keep your

eye on the ball means to stay focused on

a target or a goal so to stay focused or

to maintain focus to stay focused on a

target or goal so you can imagine if

you’re playing baseball for example use

you’re waiting for the ball to come so

you can hit the ball yeah

in order to do that successfully you

have to focus on the ball so that’s what

this part means to keep your eye on the

ball means to constantly watch or to

continue watching for the ball to move

so we use the expression to keep one’s

eye or to keep someone’s eye on the ball

usually you’ll hear this as a command

keep your eye on the ball keep your eye

on the ball and sometimes you might hear

eyes you keep your eyes on the ball but

you might hear just one as well so we

use both you might hear both of these

okay if you have questions about these

idioms or example sentences please send

them in the chat and I will try to check

them alive someone sent an example with

this get us off the ground so to get

something this something to go back to

this point this something is the project

we don’t say I’m going to get myself off

the ground this something is your

project so I’m going to get my project

off the ground next month or we got the

project off the ground

last week so this some thing is not a

person we don’t use people here we use

projects here okay let’s continue to the

next one okay someone has used this I

keep my eyes on something as well you

can replace this ball with the target of

your attention so I’m going to keep my

eye on you but that sounds a little

negative sometimes like we’re monitoring

or we’re watching someone okay

onto the next one the next one is a noun

so please keep in mind this one has a

different grammatical function than the

other expressions we’ve talked about

this is a noun the expression is a long

shot we do not use this in the plural

form we do not say long shots

really we usually say a long shot so a

long shot is something so a situation

usually something with a low chance of

success a low chance of success so

something that you think is probably not

going to succeed something that is a

long shot so this has a negative feeling

about it this one sounds kind of

negative we don’t have a good feeling

about the situation or the project so

you might say like I’m not sure about

this idea this is a long shot like it

has a low chance of success so don’t

forget this article here this is a long

shot like this project is a long shot or

that’s a long shot means that’s

something that has a low chance of

success in my opinion

okay so a long shot okay on to the last

expression for this section to be on the

same page to be on the same page so

first I’ll define this to be on the same

page we usually say to be on the same

page as someone else means to have the

same information and the same

understanding as someone else so I’ll

write it here so this means to have the

same information and understanding as

someone else that’s my understanding as

someone else so we’ll often say - I’m on

the same page as you

so kind of a useful image for this if

you imagine like a book yeah so imagine

you’re reading

can you see yeah imagine you’re reading

a book with some width together with

another person and so as you read the

book together you need to read the story

at the same time to understand the story

at the same time right so if you and

your friend or whoever if you are on the

same page at the same moment you

understand the story or you understand

the situation in exactly the same way as

the other person you’re with so it might

be helpful to imagine reading a book

with someone else so this means you have

the same information and the same

understanding of a situation so in a

sentence we would say something like are

we on the same page we would use it as a

question that means do we have the same

information or you might hear it used in

a statement like I’m happy we’re all on

the same page I’m happy we’re all on the

same page that means I’m glad everybody

here has the same understanding and

same information so this is what it

means to be on the same page as someone

else okay I don’t see any questions but

if you have something please send it in

the chat I will try to check let’s take

a quick break and then we’ll go to group

two or for today’s lesson

so today’s focus is business English

which means I will share this PDF with

you which I’ve shared many times I think

this is the business English PDF with

vocabulary words for the office yes and

some expressions for a business meeting

here on the back you can take a look at

this and I think these are yeah here are

some job titles for you to review but

some other things related to this and

that you might use these idioms in these

situations this one it says at the

airport yes but there’s some travel

related vocabulary back here and a

couple of other expressions you might

use this is for like immigration but

this is a situation where you might use

some of these expressions and this I’ve

also chosen the travel one this is

travel to the USA yeah but on the back

here are some other travel related

expressions and you’ll see a little

later in today’s lesson some of these

expressions are also useful for

traveling traveling to new places okay

historia says hi Alicia our idioms in

English formal or informal language

generally more informal they’re a little

bit more casual but we do sometimes use

them in more formal situations too it

kind of depends a little bit

okay uh I don’t see any other questions

yet so let’s continue on if you’re just

joining today’s lesson is about business

idioms in English and please make sure

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all right onward let’s go to group two

for today then group two I’ll go over

here group two for today let’s go to

this very famous expression to put all

one’s eggs in one basket to put all

one’s eggs in one basket means to depend

on one person or one plan only for your

success so already here to depend on one

person or one plan of action for success

so this is generally a negative thing so

it’s like you need one person to do

everything for you or you have only one

plan to succeed so if there’s a problem

that means you won’t succeed so we’ll

often use this after something has gone

wrong

after we experienced a problem like oh

no I put all my eggs in one basket that

means I depended on just one person or

one plan to succeed and if

fail so please note this put what in

past tense is also put so you have to

pay attention to the context of the

situation so for example like if I ask

my friend to buy concert tickets and my

friend forgets and we don’t go to the

concert I might think oh no I put all my

eggs in one basket and I can’t go to the

concert now I relied on my friend and my

friend forgot like I had no other plan

in that case so that’s a very simple

example but this can be especially

problematic this can be an issue in very

big projects like in work in work

situations ok

yes con well jeez I hope I said that

right on YouTube has a good example he

put all his eggs in one basket when he

invested all his money in one company

exactly that’s a great example so that’s

probably not a good decision to put all

your money into one company only if that

company fails your money is gone you

know that’s a great example of this

expression alright um sigh Syed I hope I

said that right says it’s do things by

the book a good thing is it a good thing

to do things it’s neither good nor bad

you’re just saying we’re going to follow

the rules

that’s all it doesn’t mean it’s good or

bad it’s very that’s a neutral

expression alright on to the next one

this is 2 for 1 that means we have 2

idioms in this one it is to talk someone

into or out of something so there are

two expressions here to talk someone

into something and to talk someone out

of something so first let’s talk about

into to talk someone into something

means to convince someone

to do something to convince someone to

do something and we do this by talking

so to talk someone into something or you

might hear to talk someone into doing

something means to discuss something

with them until they are convinced until

they decide to do that thing like my

parents talked me into buying a new car

when I was 20 and something that’s not

true but like my parents talked me into

this decision means my parents convinced

me to do this thing on the other hand to

talk someone out of something means to

convince someone not to do something not

to do something so we use this

expression when someone has a bad idea

and we think they should not do that

thing so like maybe I decide I want to

buy a really expensive house but I have

no money so my parents talked me out of

buying the house my parents talked me

out of buying an expensive house or

taking out a big loan so to convince

somebody to do something to talk someone

into a situation to convince someone to

do a thing and to talk someone out of

something needs to convince someone not

to do something kind of like leaving a

situation you can try to think of it

that way okay on to the next one oh and

please remember if you want to use this

in the past tense you need to conjugate

your verb I talked her into doing

something I talked him into doing

something so don’t forget to conjugate

your verbs and these

d-r-e has a great example he talked me

into applying for a promotion or the

promotion great he talked me into

applying for the promotion great he

convinced me to apply for the promotion

good ok let’s go to the next one to

think outside the box to think outside

the box maybe many of you know this

expression already to talk about to talk

to think outside the box means to think

in a way that is different from the

standard so think this one is like the

opposite of to do things by the book

yeah we talked about to do things by the

book as like to do things according to a

standard there’s some standard or

there’s some rule however to think

outside the box means to think in a way

that is different from the standard so

I’ll write it here to think creatively

something creatively or in a different

way than the standard in your situation

or in your industry to think outside the

box so this is generally seen as a

positive thing when we use the

expression to think outside the box it’s

like saying you need to be creative we

need to have a creative idea here so

yeah this one I think we see this one a

lot in like creative news as well or in

a student related work like in

universities students are encouraged to

think outside the box to think in a new

someone wrote I have to think outside

the bottle we use box always here box

think outside the box make sure to use

box okay oh you have the same expression

in Portuguese I did not know that that’s

cool okay other points I don’t see any

others yet okay let’s continue on to

this one to touch base to touch base

this is another sports related idiom if

you know baseball maybe you know there

are four bases there’s first base second

base third base and home base so this

expression to touch base to touch base

means to check in with someone to check

in this is a very common one in American

English to check in to check in with

someone means to get an update about

something to get an update usually like

to get a project update or to get an

information update so we often see this

in invitations for meetings like hey can

we touch base about the project later

today or I touched base with our boss

earlier today so that means I updated

someone or we exchanged updates or we

checked in about a project or about a

situation to touch base to touch base

this is a very common expression to

touch base let’s touch base later

okay onward onward to the last one here

to throw in the towel to throw in the

towel this is one again sport related

exercise related to tell thank you so

let’s imagine this expression comes from

a physical action so the expression to

throw in the towel this comes from after

you exercise and maybe you are tired or

whatever you might use a towel like to

wipe your face to clean your face and

after you finish you might throw the

towel into the laundry yeah like you’re

finished to throw in the towel it means

here to quit to quit to stop doing

something so we’re done in the exercise

example to throw in the towel means to

quit or to stop doing something so this

has a very nice visual to go along with

it to quit or to stop doing something is

to throw in the towel now generally I

will say this does have a kind of

negative feel it’s like you quit

something maybe because it’s not

successful so it’s like oh I’ve been

trying to make this successful YouTube

channel for six years and I can’t do it

I’m gonna throw in the towel so that’s

like I’m gonna quit I’m really tired

I’ve tried and worked hard but it’s time

to finish so that’s a situation where we

might do that of course our YouTube

channel that’s an example where you

might use throw in the towel you’ve

worked hard for a long time but you’re

not succeeding I quit that’s the feeling

of to throw in the towel I’m gonna throw

the towel all right I don’t see

questions are examples so we’ll go to

the next one shelf I guess there’s not

really time for another break isn’t

there okay let’s go on let’s go on to

our last five our very last expressions

for today the first one on this part is

to go back to square one to go back to

square one means to go back to the

beginning to go back to the beginning to

go back to the start to go back also to

go back means to return to return to go

back or to return to the start or to the

beginning so this is also seen we

consider this one kind of negatively so

this is a sis in situations where we’ve

tried to do something we’ve tried to

start something for example but we have

lots of problems there are lots of

hurdles for us and eventually we realize

this is not going to work we go back to

square one so square one means step one

here so after we try to take a few steps

you can imagine each step is like a

square kind of so I’m stepping forward

in my project but it continues to fail

so I go back to the start and try to

begin again so we use this expression

after we’ve tried to do something and

it’s failed and failed and failed and we

want to get like a fresh start

so it shows we failed but we’re going to

continue so a little bit negative but

also like I’m still I’m going to

continue to start our sorry to go back

to square one to go

just wear one mm okay not not Darrin hi

it says regarding this project please go

back to square one that’s a very yes I

suppose you could use it that way it

sounds direct usually when we use this

expression it’s not a command usually

we’re tight we’re reporting about our

own status like ah I went back to square

one on that project like we feel a

little bit negative about it and we’re

reporting about ourselves so that’s kind

of how we use it Rodrigo says go back to

square one square two or three we

usually say square one here because we

want to emphasize we’re going to the

beginning I’m going to start again from

zero so we say I’m going to go back to

square one you might say I took a step

back which means I went back one step

and then I’m going to go forward but

this expression emphasizes returning to

the beginning of something okay look

only two minutes let’s finish so the

next one I should do this the next

expression is to cut to the chase to cut

to the chase to cut to the chase kind of

a weird expression to cut to the chase

means to explain something efficiently

to explain something efficiently without

wasting time so often I talk too much

so often I might say think to myself

like ah I should cut to the chase I

should cut to the chase this one is kind

of something I think it’s good to

memorize this expression there’s not an

easy visual for this but it’s like you

need to cut the extra stuff so that we

can get to the main point that’s what

this means

so maybe probably everybody knows

someone who talks a lot like they give

lots and lots of information that’s not