I dioms in focus:

Task 1. Study the following examples and try to understand the underlined idioms in context. Find their Russian equivalents.

1. Safe food handling practices not only protect your customers, but also help you increase profitability, reduce liability, promote goodwill.

2. The association has threatened to withdraw its support if the bank and building societies refuse to play ball.

3. As a team manager, you should delegate enough authority to get the work done, to allow assistants to take initiative, and to keep the operation moving in your department.

4. I don't have to go out of my way to reassure him; we see eye to eye on the most important issues.

5. Tom is regarded as the black sheep of the family by his colleagues. The reason for this is that he often avoids being asked for help.

6. Production manager gave a presentation of the product development in order to bring the prospective partners into the day-to-day process of business.

7. We would value your input and advice on how to improve the management of our company.

8. Washington was last night doing its best to mend fences with the Europeans saying it understood their concerns.

9. The fledgling company will have to work hard to win credibility with customers.

10. Many corporate employees in Japan take their cue from the PM and wear casual clothes to work.

11. Unprogressive managements which had made little attempt to meet the workers halfway and sort out real grievances would be driven to put their house in order.

Task 2. Match the following idioms with their corresponding definitions.

to promote goodwill to play ball to delegate authority to see eye to eye with somebody on something to be a black sheep of the family to bring somebody into day-to-day process of business to value somebody’s input to mend fences to win credibility with sb to take one’s cue from sb to meet someone halfway

to be a good-for-nothing person to be trustworthy to encourage employees to build up the company’s reputation by means of their knowledge, loyalty, ethics, to act for the benefit of the business to observe what somebody does as a guide to one’s own action, to follow the lead of somebody to agree entirely with somebody; to have identical views to cooperate, to work together; to get started [baseball] to compromise to involve the employees at lower levels in decision making to admit somebody as a partner to repair relationship with sb to acknowledge sb’s participation

Task 3. Substitute for the underlined phrase an idiom with the same meaning.

1. The company has offered to reach a compromise with unions in their pay demands.

2. PM hopes to encourage building up good reputation through holding summit.

3. The national assembly follows the lead of the president and seldom challenges her policies.

4. The opposing attorneys refused to cooperate with us.

5. Following these simple guidelines will help you be trustworthy.

6. In order to meet the organization's goals, focus on objectives, and ensure that all work is accomplished, supervisors must give part of their work to their employees.

7. The mayor is trying to repair relationship with members of the city council so they will approve his plan.

8. Yuriko agrees entirely with Yul on almost every aspect of the production process.

9. Now every profession has of course got its good-for-nothing person. If the evidence is available against them, you can be absolutely certain that the professional tribunals will be down on them like a ton of bricks.

10. Each member of the team should be admitted as a partner in order to ensure that all of them are working towards achieving the organization’s common goals.

11. We’d appreciate it if you could take part in our staff meeting. We would acknowledge your participation in our discussion.

Task 4. Complete the sentences with one of the idioms in focus, paying special attention to the form of the verbs.

1. If he was prepared to apologize, the least she could do was ………… him ………… and accept some of the blame.

2. The person holding the position of the Secretary General of the Commonwealth should ………… and harmony between peoples and between states.

3. Individual business people must develop the clout to make sure that those they deal with do take them seriously and find clever ways to ………….

4. Because he refused to …………with these criminals, he was shot and seriously wounded.

5. China is trying to ………… with Russia after the recent border dispute.

6. He’s asked for a transfer because he doesn’t ………… with the new manager.

7. My father was ………… – he ran away at 16 to become an actor and his parents never forgave him.

8. In this meeting we’re going to concentrate on the company’s everyday activities and ………… our new partners ………….

9. Please give us your views as we ………… our customers ………….

10. I'm not sure what to bring, so I'll ………… from you.

11. The effective manager is that person who has mastered how to …………and empower employees.

Task 5. Translate the following sentences into English using idioms instead of the phrases underlined.

1. Одна из основных целей компании – удачно позиционировать себя на местном рынке. Для этого необходимо, прежде всего, заслужить имя, хорошую репутацию и базу клиентов.

2. Менеджеры разных подразделений одной и той же компании должны сотрудничать с другими коллегами, чтобы обеспечить сплоченность коллектива.

3. Грамотное распределение обязанностей среди подчиненных позволяет оптимизировать работу менеджера.

4. Мы не можем приступить к реализации проекта до тех пор, пока существуют разногласия среди основных исполнителей.

5. Среди отечественных компаний часто встречаются нестандартные, нелогичные, непонятно как работающие, но тем не менее, успешные предприятия.

6. Мы были бы очень рады, если бы вы приняли участие в сегодняшнем собрании. Нам было бы очень интересно выслушать ваше мнение по поводу слияния двух корпораций.

7. Примирение враждующих сторон в этом конфликте возможно только при участии независимого посредника.

8. Установление обратной связи с покупателями является необходимым условием для завоевания доверия и уважения потребителей.

9. Следуя примеру своего партнера, он извинился за свои слова.

10. Представители демократической партии готовы пойти на уступки президенту.

11. Цель нашего собрания – ознакомить наших партнеров с деятельностью компании, а также ввести их в курс деятельности различных департаментов.

Test your Idioms

REVISION TEST 3

UNITS 7 - 10

Task 1. Substitute in place of the words underlined an idiomatic expression.

1. Present levels of financial support have forced the school to cut its teaching staff.

2. They took a 40% share in the company last year.

3. We’re operating at a profit on paper but not, I think, in reality – some of our assets are overvalued.

4. Management changes alone are unlikely to make the company profitable again after losses.

5. The profits from today’s concert will go to the school for refugee children

6. The fund provides capital for investments and loans for US business projects.

7. There is no empirical evidence that working in a cubicle may decrease productivity.

8. At the end of each term I’d go home to my parents with all the symptoms of someone who has well and truly exhausted his physical and mental resources: a permanent hangover, not a penny in my pocket, and a desperate need to catch up on lost sleep

9. Bird flu could cause a lot of harm to business, as BBC news report.

10. If you want to get an opportunity to start working with prospective employers, you need to make yourself known to the hiring manager and let him see what great work you can do.

11. These products are aggressively advertised and marketed.

12. In a famous maneuver the Hunt brothers managed to control the market in silver.

13. I wonder if there are any really effective spam-blocking tools which can prevent unwanted commercial email from getting into email box.

14. Software programmes collecting information about customers’ preferences сan help grocery target customers based on their recent purchases.

15. Some restaurant owners in town are cooking up a $75,000 publicity to promote New York as Restaurant City.

16. This article describes how administrators can involve employees at lower levels in decision making in order to create and manage Group Policy Objects.

17. I don’t have identical views with my father on many things.

18. ‘I think I’ll cut the whole remark out’ – ‘That would be making a compromise with the Home office’.

19. The estimated costs of the construction project are well over ₤ 1 million. This is already way over our budget, so we need to control our expenses.

20. The key to success lies in not taking on a task which is too difficult.

Task 2. Translate the following sentences into English using idioms instead of the phrases underlined.

1. В связи с недостатком финансирования крымские бизнес-группы не смогли развиться в полноценные холдинги.

2. Нестандартные менеджеры сегодня пользуются спросом как в мировом, так и в локальном бизнесе. Им удается то, что другим кажется невозможным, ведь они обладают качествами, которые сегодня востребованы как никогда.

3. В современном супермаркете, на полках которого представлены десятки тысяч товаров, удачное название – совершенно необходимое условие для успешного продвижения продукта.

4. Audi RS 4 поставляется укомплектованным практически всем дополнительным оборудованием, уже зарекомендовавшим себя в модели Audi A4, таким как климат-контроль, центральный замок с дистанционным управлением, аудиосистема с концертным качеством звучания.

5. Сейчас издательство Альпина Бизнес Букс активно представляет новую книгу Лари Кинга «Секреты профессионального собеседника», в которой самый приятный собеседник Америки делится с читателями небольшими секретами своего ремесла.

6. На дегустации в пивоваренном заводе посетителям предложили несколько сортов пива и ознакомили с технологией и процессом варки пива.

7. Сегодня крупные международные концерны активно инвестируют деньги в исследования в области бионики, поскольку природа хранит массу оригинальных решений для сложных технических задач.

8. В крупных компаниях, которые занимаются несколькими направлениями бизнеса, очень сложно добиться скоординированной работы и кооперации между разными департаментами.

9. Следуя примеру зарубежных бизнес-школ, украинское бизнес-образование активно развивается и представляет новые программы на отечественном рынке.

10. Получение диплома MBA помогает приобрести новые знания и навыки в разных аспектах управления, а также может служить хорошим началом карьеры.

11. Я бы хотел приобрести качественную фотокамеру. Не могли бы вы объяснить, что значат все эти характеристики? Я ничего не понимаю из того, что здесь написано.

12. Эта книга для тех, кто хочет научиться эффективно управлять организацией и грамотно распределять полномочия среди подчиненных.

13. Лазейки в законах, а также хорошая осведомленность рейдера о деятельности компании, создают множество угроз для захвата компании.

14. Благодаря инвестициям в развитие новых технологий, компании удается контролировать рынок программного обеспечения.



List of Sources and References:

1. Cambridge International Dictionary of idioms. - Cambridge University Press, 1998.

2. Cowie A.P., Mackin R., McCaig I.R. Oxford dictionary of English idioms. - Oxford University Press, 1993.

3. www.education.guardian.co.uk

4. www.esl.about.com

5. Horner, D., Strutt, P. Words at Work. Vocabulary development for Business English. Cambridge University Press, 1998

6. New Webster's Dictionary And Thesaurus Of The English Language. - Lexicon Publications, Inc., 1993.

7. Oxford Dictionary of Business English for Learners of English. OUP, 1993.

8. Seidl J., MacMordie W. English Idioms. - Oxford University Press, 1996.

9. webguide.englishclub.com/ESP/Business_English/

10. www.bizenglish.com

11. www.better-english.com/exerciselist.html 

12. www.besig.org

13. www.englishclub.com

14. www.english-to-go.com

15. www.eslcafe.com

16. www.executiveenglish.com

17. www.market-leader.net

18. www.onlinebusinessenglish.com

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