Jargons and idioms, fixed expres

The early bird gets the worm - start working early and you will be successful.

I get up at five and do two hours of work before I go to the office. The early bird gets the worm!

When in Rome, do as the Romans - when you are in a foreign culture, you should act like the people in that culture.

I'm wearing shorts to work here in Bermuda! When in Rome, do as the Romans.

You can't always get what you want - This proverb means what it says, you can't always get what you want. The Rolling Stones knew how to put that to music!

Stop complaining. You can't always get what you want. Learn to live with that truth!

As anyone who has spent time in either the boardroom or the back office can tell you, the English language takes on some unusual forms in the business world. Business English not only contains words or phrases that appear nowhere else in the language but also includes words that take on radically new meanings in a corporate context. Take, for example, the word “margin.” Taken by itself, the word refers to the blank areas at the edges of a piece of paper. When put in a business context, however, margin takes on a whole new meaning: that of profit margins. While the two definitions make it is possible to have “slim margins” in both the classroom and the boardroom, the correct meaning is revealed only by context. Nor is this an isolated case: even some of the most familiar-looking words, like angel (an early investor), have a special meaning in the business world. Given this – and the importance of English in global business – we might go so far to say that context is more than key – it is king.

Idioms are similar to slang and jargon in that they are words or phrases that cannot be translated directly but differ in that they are typically much lengthier and occasionally grammatically irregular. That is to say an idiom is a fixed expression whose meaning is best predicted not from its parts but from its contexts – and for better or worse the corporate world uses a lot of them! For example, in business people
don’t work harder, they “take it up a notch”

don’t discuss important issues, they “talk shop”

don’t work late, they “burn the midnight oil”

don’t feel included, they “are one of the team”

...and it can all seem overwhelming at first! Unfortunately, these phrases are as important to your success as they are daunting. While idioms outside the workplace might simply make you sound more natural, because business idioms are part of the common language used by people in a common endeavor to communicate industry-specific ideas, without it non-native speakers might find it difficult to express their thoughts or understand those of their colleagues!

It is with this in mind that we have created this series on business jargon and idioms. While general idioms remains just as useful – indeed, idioms are almost mandatory – as ever, business idioms deserve special attention because they are the kind of phrases that are used every day in the business world. Although they might sound a little out of place on the weekend, they are perfectly suited for just about any professional environment. Although it might seem a little intimidating at first, practice makes perfect and, in no time you will feel like “one of the team!”

Fixed expressions are a huge part of the Cambridge Advanced exam, coming into play far more frequently than in lower levels. The difficulty with CAE fixed expressions is that learners will often recognise them and understand them when seen in context. However, making them part of of their active vocabulary is a much greater challenge. For the CAE it is essential that your students know fixed expressions because they can and will come up in the open cloze (Part 2 of Use of English) and key-word transformations (Part 4 of Use of English). So let’s take a close look at what a CAE fixed expressions would be and how we can teach them.

cae fixed expressions

If you are looking for transformations that use CAE fixed expressions, you can find them here:

A fixed expression is a combination of words which express an idea. It has taken on more meaning that the individual words while still maintaining a lexical connection. It is frequently used in certain circumstances to express a specific idea.

Examples include:

My sister asked me to keep an eye on her kids while she was working late. (to watch / look after)

It came as no surprise when Lawrence got the job. (it was expected / not surprising)

It is only a matter of time until that bridge collapses. (it will happen at some point in the future)

If she doesn’t start training, she won’t stand a chance of winning the race. (has no possibility)

As their name suggests, fixed expressions are fixed. This means the order and combination of words cannot be changed. The only flexibility in fixed expressions is a pronoun change (e.g. She made up her mind becomes I made up my mind) or a tense change (e.g. There is no point in arriving late becomes There was no point in arriving late).

What’s the difference between a fixed expression and an idiom?

Idioms use words that are completely removed from their lexical meaning. The meaning cannot be deduced from its individual words and it has a separate meaning of its own.

Examples include:

My brother is a couch potato. (lazy)

I can’t believe she let the cat out of the bag. (reveal a secret)

Sarah’s new boyfriend really rubs me the wrong way. (annoy / bother)

Losing the contract added insult to injury. (make a bad situation worse)

Idioms can be a lot of fun to teach and learn (idiom pictionary anyone?). Advanced students are often eager to scribble them down and bask in the glory of knowing something so obscure in their 2nd language. However, in my opinion, they are less useful for the CAE than their fixed expression counterparts.

How to teach fixed expressions

Unfortunately, unlike idioms, fixed expressions don’t lend themselves as easily to fun games and activities. You can’t describe, draw or act out by the time. So what we need to do as teachers is help our students notice fixed expressions when they see them. Encouraging noticing will create a deeper cognitive connection, which will help students take fixed expressions from their passive memory into active memory.

Here are some tips to make fixed expressions stick:

Always look at fixed expressions as a whole and preferably in context.

Whenever you do an exam task (or any task) that has fixed expressions, have your students write them down, think of a synonymous expression and write an example sentence. They can dedicate a section of their vocabulary notebook to this.

Have students watch series and films and write down fixed expressions that they hear.

Put fixed expressions on cards and have students think of sentences using them. Make it more fun by making the sentences true or false about them and their partner has to guess if it’s true or not.

Give students fixed expressions that are gapped and they have to complete them.

Create fixed expression pelmanism with synonymous phrases.

Use materials like the ones on this page or this transformations activity which focus on fixed expressions.