22 Business English Expressions You Can’t Live

Without (And how to use them)

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both-business-and-social-contexts

Business English Expressions to make your English level

advanced

1. Heads up
If you give someone a heads up, you inform or warn someone in advance of
something so that they can prepare themselves.

Business Example> “Heads up Bob! The VP of Finance is coming from NY today and
he’ll expect to see the office in perfect state”

General Example> “Just want to give you a heads up – I don’t think Jane was very
happy with what you said last night at dinner. You might want to call her and clear the
air.”

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2. Address an issue
When you decide it’s time to discuss a problem, you can use ‘address the issue’. It
means that it’s time to acknowledge it and focus on it for a fair amount of time,
hopefully to find a solution. It is fairly formal and would mainly be used in a business or
in a formal setting, rather than in social contexts.

Business Example>“I think it’s time that we address the issue of budget cuts”.

General Example> “I welcome this opportunity to address an issue in which

Parliament has always shown a great interest.”

3. Get the ball rolling

Get the ball rolling means to begin or start something so that some progress can be
made; usually before the beginning of the implementation of a project, when it’s time to
start doing some actual work rather than just talking about it!

Business example> “What can I do to get the ball rolling on the Japan project?”

General Example> “Joelle got the ball rolling and booked a table for our first book-club
meet-up.”

4. Pull it off
Pull it off means to succeed in doing something difficult or unexpected. You ‘pull it
off’ for example, when you weren’t prepared to answer a question but you managed to say
something clever:

Business example> “He wasn’t prepared on the subject but he pulled it off thanks to
his broad knowledge of the sector and quick thinking.”

General example> “Have you heard about the surprise party Jack is planning for
Marie? It’s an ambitious plan, so let’s see if he can really pull it off!”

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Business English vocabulary no.4

5. Pain point

A pain point is a specificproblem that prospectivecustomers of your business are

experiencing. It is used widely used as synonym of problem to solve. Usually a reason to
ask for consultancy or development. This is mainly a business expression and it would be
unusual to hear used in a general English context.

Business examples>

Very simply used in a question such as: “What are the pain points in your department?”

“We can’t ignore that there are some pain points that need to be addressed*”.

*see number 2

6. Catch up on (something)
This phrasal verbs means to do something that you have not been able to do recently. NOTE this is
a multi-word verb with two prepositions: up + on

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Business example> “I’ve been so busy with endless meetings, I really need to catch up
on my emails”.

General example> “I have to catch up on Killing Eve!”

7. Catch up (with somebody)

Catch up or catch up WITH means getting an update or exchanging updated info.
Business example> “I need to catch up with Erika about her project.”

General example> “Come over tomorrow and we can catch up.”

Business English Expression no.8!

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Up in the air
This means when things are highly uncertain and decisions have not been made

Business example> “There are too many things up in the air at the minute so we
haven’t signed the contract yet.”

General English> “We still don’t know what we’re doing this summer because things
with Tom’s job are so up in the air.”

9. Get up to speed
Means to have all the latest information.

Business example> “Now that Marc is onboard we need to get him up to speed on the
project, so he can start working on it.”

General example> “I’m not up to speed on the latest series of Downton Abbey!”

10. I could use a ... / I could do with a ...

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This is a very common expression to say you would welcome something, or that you
wish for something. It expresses a feeling in a very polite way.

Business example> “Are you all set Mark?”

“Actually, I could use a hand with analysing this research. There’s a lot more than we
anticipated.”

General example>

“I could use a hand in the kitchen please!”

“I could do with a holiday”

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11. Ballpark figure
Ballpark figure = rough estimate

Business example > I’ll need to go away and cost this out carefully, but as a ballpark
figure I’d say that it’ll be about 1.5 million euros.

12. Take it from there

(Let’s) take it from there = when you don’t know exactly how an activity will play
out after a certain moment.

Business example > Let’s complete the the initial analysis of the new product and then
we will take it from there.

13. Stay afloat

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To stay afloat = having enough money to pay what you owe.

Business example > When a company is at risk or the market is particularly adverse, it
is important to stay afloat to survive.

14. Not going to fly

Not / ain’t going to fly = a proposal or something else, that we know is not going to be
approved.

Business example > I doubt this proposal is going to fly with the boss.

15. I see your point

This is a polite business English expression; a good way to use polite and diplomatic
English to interrupt someone.

Business example > I see your point, but allow me to express my view = useful when
someone is hijacking the conversation or is not letting you talk!

16. Keep one’s eye on the ball

Keep one’s eye on the ball = when you want someone to focus on the goal

Business example > Keep your eye on the ball and you won’t miss out.

17. Push back

Push back = to delay something so that it happens later than planned

Business example > I had to push back the request to increase the effort by 20%, we
are already at full capacity and we don’t have room for a further increase of the workload.

18. Move forward or push forward

Move forward or push forward = when a meeting or something else, should be done
sooner than planned.

Business example > I’ve pushed forward the meeting to Wednesday so that Elena can
attend.

19 Tackle a problem
This phrase is similar to the phrase above, so to deal with/confront a problem.

Tackle is one of the several expressions that are derived from the football field. See also
keep an eye on the ball or get the ball rolling.

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20. Get the message across
Get the message across =when you want to convey a message, for example talking with a
supplier, you need to get your message across. It means making sure that the person on
the other end of the communication: i.e. the receiver, has understood the message.

Business example > I believe today we got our message across!

21. What do you make of ....?

What do you make of ….? = when you want to enquire about the view of someone on
something, but it is usually something that you don’t fully understand or not agree with.

Business example > “What do you make of the new guy?” “He’s a little quirky, but I
think he’s nice enough.”

22. Be on top of it!

Be on top of it! = to be able to control a situation and deal with it successfully. You need to
be on top of the project to ensure its success.

Business example > “You really have to be on top of things if you want the project to be
a success!”

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