✔️ Beef something up

》To add strength to something.

▪️ We need to beef up our online services if we want to be competitive.

✔️ Hold something against someone

》To feel angry with someone and not forgive them, because of something bad that happened in the past.

▪️ You know I didn't invite your ex, he just showed up uninvited. You can't hold that against me.

@enfol

🧩 Challenge Task

Read the paragraph and choose the option that uses the idioms MOST appropriately:

The startup faced serious financial difficulties. The board of directors had two options: either significantly increase investment in product development, or reduce costs by simplifying their business model and removing innovative but risky features.

Which sentence best describes the board's dilemma using the studied idioms?

🅰️ They needed to decide whether to beef up their investment or let the company wander off into bankruptcy.
🅱️ They had to choose between beefing up their product development or watering down their business model.
🅲 The shifting sands of the market meant they should water down their investment and beef up cost reduction.
🅳 Come what may, they couldn't hold the financial situation against their competitors and had to wander off.

📊 Vote in the poll below!

@enfol

✔️ To know one's onions

》To know a lot about something or a particular field.
》To be experienced in something.

▪️ If you need someone to repair your laptop ask Jim; he's an experienced technician, he really knows his onions.

✔️ Bear down on /beə/
》To move quickly towards someone or a place in a frightening or threatening way.

▪️ When Jim was able to talk he said he could only remember a black car bearing down on him, then he woke up in a hospital bed.

@enfol

🛑 Stop saying this at work

🚫 Don’t say: What is your job?
✅ Say: What do you do?
💡 “What is your job?” is grammatically fine but too direct. “What do you do?” sounds natural at networking events.

🚫 Don’t say: I’m jobless
✅ Say: I’m between jobs / I’m unemployed at the moment
💡 “Jobless” sounds harsh and negative. These alternatives are more neutral and professional.

🚫 Don’t say: Please repeat
✅ Say: Can you repeat that? / Sorry, I didn’t catch that
💡 Without “that” or the question form, it sounds robotic — like a textbook phrase.

🚫 Don’t say: I’m married with Kevin
✅ Say: I’m married to Kevin
💡 You’re married to a person, but married with kids — the preposition changes the meaning completely.

@enfol

✔️ Stick up for someone

》To support or defend someone when they are being criticized.

▪️ Jim used to stick up for me when I was criticized at work.
▪️ She never stuck up for me when the scandal was revealed, she just kept silent.

@enfol

People are running around on all fours. And calling it "exercise."

📍Meet quadrobics /kwɑːd.ˈroʊ.bɪks/ — a fitness trend where you mimic four-legged animals for a full-body workout. 🐾
She swears by quadrobics for core strength.

📍swear by something — to trust something completely based on personal experience; to believe firmly in its effectiveness
Common pattern:
I swear by [method/product] for [result]

More examples:
🔸 I swear by cold showers for energy.
🔸 He swears by meditation for focus.
🔸 They swear by this app for learning vocabulary.

Don't confuse:
✅ swear by = trust, believe in
❌ swear at = curse at someone

@enfol

Native speakers rarely use "very + adjective" when they can reach for something more vivid. English has compound adjectives that embody intensity through body parts:

very boring - mind-numbing
very exciting - mind-blowing
very surprising - mind-boggling
very shocking - jaw-dropping
very tasty - mouth-watering
very attractive - eye-catching
very frightening - hair-raising
very fearful - blood curdling
very tasty - lip-smacking
very loud - ear-splitting
very worrying - nail-biting

These aren't mere synonyms — they're physiological metaphors that make your English more precise and memorable.

@enfol

✔️ Stand someone up

》To intentionally fail to meet someone when you said you would.

▪️ She broke up with her boyfriend the moment he stood her up for the third time.
▪️ We'd arranged to meet at 7 but he didn't come, he stood me up.

✔️ For the umpteenth time

》If something happens for the umpteenth time, it happens again after many other times.

▪️ For the umpteenth time, Jim, all computers must be turned off before leaving!
▪️ I tried to contact her for the umpteenth time.

@enfol

✔️ A fluke /fluːk/

》A surprising piece of luck.
》Something good that happens as a result of chance.

▪︎ It was a fluke \ just a fluke.
▪︎ That result was no fluke.
▪︎ By sheer fluke, I met her at the airport.
▪︎ By some fluke, we got the last two tickets.
▪︎ By a complete fluke, I found his phone number.
▪︎ He scored a fluke goal.
▪︎ Your promotion was no fluke – you earned it.
▪︎ I fluked out and passed the exam.
▪︎ Penicilin was discovered by fluke by Alexander Fleming.

@enfol

Ever trusted the wrong person? Then you know what it means to swallow the bait and bark up the wrong tree.

Today’s idioms and words:
🔸 keep your nose clean = stay out of trouble
🔸 a hoax = a trick
🔸 swallow the bait = believe the trick
🔸 bark up the wrong tree = blame the wrong person
🔸 count on sb = depend on them
🔸 it turned out = we discovered the truth
🔸 get rid of sb = remove someone
🔸 pathetic = makes you feel sad or disappointed

@enfol

Common Errors in English: ALL, WHOLE, EVERY

❌ I informed all the team.
✅ Say: I informed the whole / entire team.

🔸 EVERY + singular countable:
every project, every email
🔸 ALL + plural or uncountable:
all projects, all the data
🔸 WHOLE / ENTIRE + one unit:
the whole report, the entire meeting

I reviewed the whole contract (= one document).
I reviewed all the contracts (= many documents).

@enfol

🔸 Let someone down — to fail to support or help someone as they had hoped
🔸 Spill the beans — to tell people secret information
🔸 The talk of the town — to be what everyone is talking about
🔸 No wonder — it is not surprising
🔸 Have a taste of one's own medicine — to receive the same bad treatment that one has been giving others
🔸 Play a trick on — to deceive someone
🔸 Skip it — to indicate that one does not want to do something or discuss something
🔸 Let bygones be bygones — to allow unpleasant past events to be forgotten
🔸 Treat (someone or oneself) to (something) — to provide something to someone or oneself as a special gift or reward

@enfol

✔️ Talk something over

To discuss something with someone before making a decision

🧔🏻‍♂️ I have a problem with my boss and I don't know what to do about it.
👩 Why don't we talk it over together? That might help you to solve it.

✔️ Talk something out

To discuss a problem thoroughly with someone who disagrees with you about it, in order to solve it

▪️ We have different opinions about this issue. I think we should sit down and talk this out.

@enfol

The King of the United Kingdom, Charles III wished everyone "a peaceful and very happy Christmas."
Following this, the Songs For Ukraine choir and the Royal Opera Choir performed the English version of "Shchedryk," titled Carol of the Bells.

Hark how the bells, sweet silver bells
All seem to say, "Throw cares away"
Christmas is here, bringing good cheer
To young and old, meek and the bold

❄️ Hark! [old-fashioned] - Listen!
▫️Hark. I hear the returning footsteps of my love

❄️ good cheer - a state of happiness, optimism, and high spirits
▫️The pub was filled with laughter and good cheer, a perfect refuge from the cold
Idiom: To "be of good cheer" means to have hope and not lose faith, especially in difficult times.

❄️ Meek - patient, long-suffering, or submissive in disposition or nature; humble
▫️He was always so meek and mild.

❄️ bold /bəʊld $ boʊld/ - not afraid of taking risks and making difficult decisions

🇺🇦 https://u24.gov.ua/ Official Fundraising
Platform of Ukraine

@enfol

📌 YEN - a strong desire, urge, or craving for something.

Example:
If you’ve got a yen for succulent, right-off-the-boat Maine sea scallops, now is the time to get them 

✔️ succulent [ˈsʌkjʋlɘnt] - juicy and tasty
✔️ Maine - the northernmost state on the U.S. Atlantic coast, famous for its rugged coastline, pine forests, and premium seafood - especially lobster and sea scallops.
📌 sea scallop - a large edible bivalve mollusk [ˈmɒlʌsk] prized for its sweet, tender adductor muscle, which is the round, white piece of meat commonly seared or grilled in fine cuisine.
✔️bivalve(d) ['baɪvælv(d)] - (mollusk type) marine or freshwater mollusk with a shell divided into two hinged parts
✔️ seared - cooked briefly at high heat to create a caramelized, golden-brown crust on the outside while keeping the inside moist and tender.

More examples:
▪️Students with a yen to travel should consider studying abroad.
▪️After dinner, the family went out for ice cream to satisfy their yen for something sweet.

@enfol

🔸Around the corner: very near.
🔸Shop around: to go to several shops before you decide what to buy.
🔸To be fed up with: annoyed, unhappy, or bored, especially with a situation that has existed for a long 
time.
🔸Cut corners: to save money or time when doing something by not including some parts, actions, or details, so that the result is not as good as it could be.
🔸Make ends meet: to have enough money to buy what you need to live.
🔸Cut down on: to do or use less of something.
🔸Make an excuse: to give a reason for doing something you shouldn't do.
🔸Give solace [sɒlɪs]: to help and comfort when you are feeling sad or worried.

@enfol

More examples:

I tried to surprise her with a party, but her decision to work late threatened to thwart my entire plan.

Researchers are developing new vaccines specifically designed to thwart the virus's ability to mutate

The thick castle walls were built to thwart any siege attempt, no matter how persistent.

📌Quick Usage Tips:

📍​Tone: It sounds more formal and impactful than "stop" or "block."

📍​Common Objects: You usually thwart a plan, an attempt, an enemy, or a desire.

@enfol