Speaking English Like a Native ORIGIN: When a football player drops the ball, his team may lose the chance to score.
a bitter pill to swallow bad news; something unpleasant to accept EXAMPLE: After Gina spent her whole summer working as an intern for American Express, failing to get a full-time job offer from the company was a
bitter pill to swallow. up to scratch good; at the expected level EXAMPLE: Your customer service call center isn't up to scratch. They put me on hold for 45 minutes! NOTE: You will usually hear this expression in the negative: not up to
scratch. asleep at the wheel not performing well; neglecting responsibilities; not paying attention to what's going on EXAMPLE: The dental hygienist was asleep at the wheel. She accidentally left a big piece of dental floss in the patient's mouth! SYNONYMS: asleep at the switch; out to lunch
Polar English
Speaking Business
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English Like a Native
