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Hello! I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
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English in the workplace.
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At work, in the office.
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Knowing the idioms, phrasal verbs
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and unique vocabulary that's
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used in these professional contexts is so important!
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I'll admit that there is a lot to learn there.
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But today I want to focus on some really common,
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very useful expressions that you'll hear often at work
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and in these professional contexts .
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At the office. With your colleagues.
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With your boss. With your clients, your customers.
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In interviews, speaking exams, with your teacher
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or your university professor.
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If you haven't already noticed, you'll soon realise
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that the office is where idioms and English expressions
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go wild.
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At times it feels like people only speak
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using idioms and slang.
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So whether you're flat out, getting off-track,
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losing your train of thought or banking on an early finish,
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these 10 essential business English expressions
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will help you to sound more natural and confident
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at work.
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Learning these expressions is essential
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and a fantastic way to hear them being used in context
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is by listening to audiobooks.
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I use Audible to listen to books all the time
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and I've teamed up with them to offer you a free trial,
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a free audiobook for 30 days,
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so that you can try it out yourself!
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I've been using Audible for years now
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but while I don't often have time to sit and read a book,
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I can listen while I'm driving
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or while I'm going for a run or I'm waiting for the train.
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So they offer a really fantastic solution
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to keep practising your English and for this lesson,
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I've listed some fantastic books relating to business
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in the description box below.
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So you can check out my recommendations for Audible
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right there.
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So let's start with "flat out".
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If you're "flat out", you're incredibly busy,
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you have lots to do,
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so much that you can't stop to have a break.
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I'll be flat out next week
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because there's a new shipment arriving.
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I've been flat out all week, I'm exhausted!
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In Australia where I'm from, we might also use
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"flat chat".
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It's used in exactly the same way
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to mean that someone is very busy.
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Train of thought.
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Have you ever been talking about something and then
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completely forgotten what you're talking about
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and why you're talking about it.
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It happens to me more often than I'd like to admit
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but this happens when your train of thought
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gets distracted by something else.
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The clear progression of your thoughts are stopped
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by something.
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So the expression that you'll most commonly hear is
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"Oh! I've lost my train of thought!
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What was I talking about?"
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I've lost my train of thought.
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My mum called and
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completely disrupted my train of thought.
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Can I ask you a question?
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Just give me a minute,
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I don't want to disrupt my train of thought.
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Now if you lose your train of thought you'll need to
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get back on track.
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If something is on track, it's happening as it should be
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there's no problem at all.
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If something is not happening as you planned and
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you want to change it, you want to get back on track.
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We missed the deadline last week,
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but we've just submitted the report now,
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so we're getting back on track.
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Are you on track to complete the report
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by the end of the week?
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So logically, if something is not on track it's not
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happening as it should be, then you're off track.
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Imagine this, you're busy, you're flat out,
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and you have to attend a meeting about a project
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that you're working on.
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But the people at the meeting are not prepared
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and the conversation is just going everywhere!
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People are talking about their kids, what they had for
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dinner last night, any other issue
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except what you should be talking about.
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So you decide to interrupt the conversation and say:
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We're getting off track here guys.
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We've only got ten more minutes left
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and we need to confirm the marketing budget.
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It's used to say that a person or a group of people
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have become distracted from their main purpose.
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They've lost their focus.
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That's just like my aunt Mary actually,
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she does it all the time!
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She lives on her own which is probably why
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but her house is beautiful and she's got
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the dogs to keep her company.
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Sorry, I'm getting off track!
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Here are a few more examples.
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It's difficult to stay on track with so many disruptions,
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perhaps we should move to the conference room.
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I don't want to get off track, but we can all agree that the
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new marketing manager is difficult to get along with.
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We should have completed the work by now,
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but the team got off track with some technical issues.
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This idiom also has a literal meaning.
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To get lost or lose your direction.
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To literally get off the track and here,
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a track means a path or a road.
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So if you're off the track, you're not on the road,
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on the path that you need to be on.
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To bank on.
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To bank on something means to bet
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that something will happen in a certain way.
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To be really sure
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or confident that something will happen
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So for example.
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I'm banking on Sarah to get a promotion,
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so that I can apply for her position.
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Since it's a public holiday on Monday,
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we're banking on an early finish tonight.
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It can also be used in a negative sentence,
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often advising someone against something.
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I wouldn't bank on it.
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That means it's not a good idea
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to assume that it will happen.
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To brush up on.
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This is a phrasal verb, but one that's idiomatic
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and it means to update or to improve your skills
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in some way.
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It can be used in any context really, formal or informal,
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but this expression is
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so useful in a professional context
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because sometimes it can be a little awkward or
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embarrassing to say that you don't have fantastic skills
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in one area.
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Right?
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But by saying that you need to brush up on those skills
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is a much softer way of saying that you're
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not that good at something but you are willing to
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practise or study to improve those skills.
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I'm brushing up on my Italian
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because I've got a business trip in July.
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I got the job at the publishing company!
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But I really need to brush up on my editing skills.
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I'm out of practice!
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To bring something to the table.
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So this idiom means to provide something
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that will be of benefit. Something useful.
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And it's often used in a professional context
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to describe the skills or experience that someone
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brings to a team or to a company.
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The great thing about Sam is that she brings
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years of management experience to the table.
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See how the "something" in our structure is
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a noun phrase here.
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This is really common with this expression.
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He brings excellent communication skills and
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award-winning design experience to the table.
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But during a meeting you might also hear
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someone use this expression.
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What have you brought to the table?
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And that means what suggestions or ideas did you
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bring to the meeting, can you offer to the people
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in the meeting.
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To bring up.
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Now this is a very common phrasal verb.
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You've probably heard it before.
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It means to mention or introduce a topic.
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Someone can bring something up during a meeting,
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a call or a casual conversation.
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I'll bring it up with Stephanie when I see her next week.
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Our presentation is missing some of the key points.
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So I'm going to bring it up with the team tomorrow,
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we can spend some more time on it.
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To turn down.
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Again, this is another common phrasal verb
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but it's also idiomatic.
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It means to say no to something or refuse something.
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They offered me tickets to the conference,
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but I had to turn them down
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because it's my son's birthday.
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He turned it down
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because they offered him the promotion,
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but told him that they couldn't increase his salary.
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I applied for the position but then I found out
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I had to spend six months of the year
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living in New Zealand. So I had to turn them down.
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Now when you do something without planning
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or preparing for it,
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there are a couple of useful expressions
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that you can use.
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You can say that you'll "wing it".
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My presentation's on my laptop,
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which I left at home, I'll just have to wing it.
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If you haven't received the notes,
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you'll just have to wing it.
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Usually this idiom suggests that you didn't really plan it
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to be that way but for some reason,
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you're under-prepared.
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If you do something that's off-the-cuff,
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you're doing something without preparing for it
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but you're kind of comfortable with that
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you're cool with that.
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I wish that I was confident enough to make
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presentations off-the-cuff,
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I spend so much time
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planning for our monthly board meetings.
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Paul won an award last night
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and made a fantastic speech totally
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totally off-the-cuff!
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Well that's it for this lesson,
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I hope you learnt some new expressions.
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Remember that these expressions are often used in a
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professional context
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but not only in a professional context.
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You'll often hear them used in casual, informal contexts
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as well, so they're good ones to learn and practise.
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You guys know that I release new lessons every week,
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so make sure you subscribe by clicking that red button
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down there so you never miss one of my lessons!
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There are plenty of other video lessons
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right here on the mmmEnglish Youtube Channel
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for you to check out.
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Like this playlist here of English idioms
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and this one right here.
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Thanks for watching and I'll see you next week.
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Bye for now!