hello friends welcome back in this video
lesson we'll learn 30 common business
English expressions you can use when
speaking in English together or go
through the common expressions or go
through the definitions and we'll go
through a few examples to better help
you learn but most importantly remember
them when speaking in English friends
before we go through these common
business English expressions I would
love to hear from you tell me in the
comments below this video
how are you currently learning new
expressions or new phrases in English
are you reading are you writing what are
you doing to learn and remember new
vocabulary in English let's begin with a
lesson now let's begin with the first
expression and that expression is a
tough break
frans with something unfortunate happens
something bad happens something beyond
your control
then you could use expression it was a
tough break for example it was a tough
break for us when Mary was on sick leave
Thursday's were really hard and we
really struggled the next expression to
go back to the drawing board means to
start planning again to start Yvonne and
to start from the very beginning and to
plan your ideas again
for example mainly colleagues but
started working on the new project but
our boss did like where we were heading
he told us look guys you have to go back
to the drawing board and do it all as we
want it done now twenty-four/seven is
quite interesting I use it a lot in
spoken form many other English speakers
do as well and basically this means that
something or someone is working 24 hours
and seven days a week
so instead of saying we never close we
work 24/7 we're always open now in the
situation that your company your boss or
your colleagues
doing something in secret they're not
doing it in public you could use
expression behind the scenes behind the
scenes is a great expression to be using
when something is happening in secret
it's away from the general public for
example Apple is working on a great new
project behind the scenes now if
something's happening differently it's
not a following a normal routine say for
example in your company everybody has
normal routines and procedures that they
follow but something is happening very
very differently in these situations you
could use expression a change of pace
for example today I'm team worked at a
local cafe and it was a nice change of
pace here change of pace is being used
as it's different it's different from
our usual or standard routine now the
expression to come up short is a very
often used expression to describe the
fact that maybe you've been working
really really hard to achieve a goal but
you just missed out on achieving that
goal so you are almost there but you
just missed out you just came up short
from achieving that goal for example in
the last financial quarter bob was given
the goal of reaching sales totaling 1
million years but he just came up short
he didn't meet his end goal gear in this
sentence he didn't miss it by much we
don't know how much but he missed it
maybe by a few thousand maybe a few ten
thousand he just came up short now you
may have heard the expression big
picture this doesn't mean in business
English literally a big picture no yeah
the big picture means the whole
situation for example Mary and Bob are
working in the same company they both
have really small tasks to complete on a
daily basis but every single date they
boss tells him about the big picture so
that they know exactly what they're
working on yeah the big picture doesn't
mean that big picture on the wall it
means the whole situation the whole
goals that company has now the
expression 50/50 basically means that
some
thing is divided equally it's divided
into two equal parts
hence fifty-fifty freeze Airport my
business partner and I split everything
5050 so instead of saying equally we
could just say 5050 it means the same
thing now in the situation that maybe an
employee or a company is ahead of the
curve these things that they are ahead
of the competition so they are doing
something really well they have a
competitive advantage maybe but they are
doing something really well and they are
above ahead of their competition for
example Apple is investing a lot in R&D
to stay ahead of the curve of their
competition now in a situation that
maybe a company or a person does
something by the book it means that they
do everything by our roles they follow
all the rules they don't take any
shortcuts they do everything that needs
to be done according to all of the rules
and regulations which is set out be that
by the regulated body or by the company
they basically follow the rules a
hundred percent
for example Mary tries to do everything
by the book to avoid issues with the tax
auditors now in the situation that you
have to go back to square one
I personally hate these situations but
basically friends if you have to go back
to square one it means they have to
start everything over from the very
beginning maybe there was an issue
there's a complication for some reason
you have to start everything over again
for example our team worked on solving
that problem for ten hours but after
working for so long we realize we were
heading in the wrong direction and we
needed to start back at square one
in the situation that you're at work and
you have a little bit of competition
with maybe colleagues or other people or
maybe your company or the company that
you're working for has a lot of
competitors but you want to stay ahead
of the game you want to stay ahead maybe
your boss or your manager
says hey we want to stay ahead of the
pack so that we win so that we win the
market share in the long term
notice your friends expression to be
ahead of the pack if you're head of the
pack it means that you are more
successful than your competitors be
there as a company or as an individual
for example maybe you have an intern
position at a company and your boss
tells you hey go to put in the hard work
now get ahead of the pack so that you
can get promoted in half a year in a
year or in five years time in the
situation they are at work and you've
been working really really long you're
exhausted and you want to finish work
instead of saying let's finish work you
could use expression to call it a day
friends to call it a day means basically
to finish or to stop working for example
me and Mary we've been working for nine
hours straight and I'm exhausted
I just told Mary Mary let's call it a
day here what I'm basically saying is
Mary let's just finish for today now a
common acronym you may hear English
speakers using in written form is AES ap
and I intend to use it quite often in
spoken form being ASAC friends if
somebody says can you do that for me
ASAP basically what they're telling you
is can you please get it done
can you do it as soon as possible now in
the situation that you've started a new
business or a project you have nothing
you had nothing just heard idea you
could use the expression I started the
project from the ground up this means
that you have no resources you had
nothing and you built it yourself
for example Richard Branson built virgin
from the ground up so he worked from the
very beginning to build and up to where
it is today but in the unfortunate
situation that maybe you go broke is
somebody or if a company goes broke
basically it means that they have no
more money they go bankrupt work is a
little bit more of informal expression
can you
to describe this somebody's gone
bankrupt they have no more money for
example Mary invested everything in
company XY and said but unfortunately
due to some poor decision-making they
went broke the situation that maybe you
as an individual employee or a company
has wasted something or lost something
in this situation you could use the
expression to go down the drain to
explain that something has been wasted
and it's being lost for example a
company invested ten billion dollars in
advertising but it all went down the
drain as it wasn't planned out properly
here to go down the drain is being used
as it was a complete waste of money
expression to go the extra mile means
that either an employee or a company or
an individual is working extra hard then
what is expected of them
for example the starboard Tesco work
extra hard they go that extra mile to
keep us customers satisfied now the
expression to go through the roof
meeting something's increasing rapidly
really really really really fast for
example Microsoft shared prices have
gone through the roof over the last 24
hours
here this means that they've been
creased rapidly really really fast
now in a business city where maybe
you're negotiating a contract or some
deal but there's an area that's not
clear to you in this situation you could
describe this as being a great area
friends a great area is something that's
not really clear to you maybe not being
defined well it's not been explained
well it's a great area for example we
got given a new contract yesterday but I
have to go through the contract with my
lawyer
there's a few great areas I don't really
understand now the phrase there's a lot
of at stake is a brute often used phrase
you may hear English speakers using to
describe that there's a lot at risk here
at stake is use describe risk and
there's a lot at stake it means there's
a lot at risk for example our boss is
really nervous about presenting
ideas to the management board as it
really is a lot at stake the project
requires a lot of heavy investments and
a lot of risk there's a lot at stake any
situation may be that you've surprised
somebody by doing something or somebody
surprised you with an idea you may have
caught them off-guard friends if you
catch somebody off-guard if you're
caught off guard it means that you're
taken by surprise something unexpected
for example a boss wanted to buy the new
shipping company it really caught us off
guard we weren't expecting it now in the
situation that you're negotiating you
know what you want but maybe somebody's
managed to persuade you to persuade you
to accepting their deal or their way of
thinking you may have caved in friends
to caving means to give in or to agree
to something that you previously don't
want to grieve on for example Mary wants
to change the working conditions at her
job but her supervisor refuses to cave
in now if you're a person or you're
working for a company that likes to take
the easy way out the easy option and
maybe not spend as much money as
required you like to take shortcuts in
this situation you could say that the
company or the person likes to cut
corners you like to take the easy option
for example in our company we don't like
to cut corners as in the long term there
are no benefits now if you decide to
count ones losses basically it means
that you start doing something that's
bringing no results so you're stopping
doing something which is not beneficial
at all
for example Mary's advertising campaigns
were expenses she decided to cut in
losses and end those campaigns now these
two expressions blue-collar and
white-collar workers are three common
expressions
I'm sure you've come across and doing
business simply just talking in
English now friends a blue-collar worker
is somebody who works with their hands
they may be a tradesman they may do
something physical for example
carpenters plumbers electricians these
are all blue-collar workers among many
other professions but a white-collar
worker is somebody who works in an
office so they don't do as per se
physical work but they work inside maybe
they work on computer they have some
sort of job indoors this could be
customer service management marketing
etc in a situation that you an employee
or a company is very ambitious you have
big goals big dreams you could say that
you think big to think big is a great
expression you could use when speaking
in English to say that you're ambitious
have great great great goals and dreams
for example Mary's not happy with only
having one store in her local city she's
thinking big and she's opening up three
stores at different locations around the
country now in the situation that your
job you may have some problems some
problems that you need to resolve and
your boss may tell you hey trying to
think outside the box when solving those
problems yeah if your boss is trying you
to think out of the box they're telling
you to be creative they're telling you
to try to think of unconventional
solutions instead of thinking of the
most common solutions finally if
something is difficult to achieve
there's many obstacles there's many
hurdles there's a lot of problems on the
way you could say it the back problem
well resolving the problem is an uphill
battle for example Mary wants to be the
president of a management board but she
needs to be voted in it's going to be an
uphill battle for her to get all the
votes as she needs until battle here is
used because there's a lot of obstacles
there's a lunch needs to do to get there
there you have it friends you see 30
in business English expressions to
better help you express yourself in
business or work settings in English
remember friends to join the discussion
in the comments below this video and
tell me how do you learn I remember
English words now if you liked this
video lesson make sure to like it hit
subscribe and turn on notifications so
that you get the latest lessons I post
here on my youtube channel and be a good
friend help your friends learning
English by sharing this video lesson
with them thanks for watching thanks for
being here and I look forward to seeing
you in the comments below this video bye
for now
[Music]