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English Bites!

engbites1English Bites! are practical, bite-sized tips to help you improve your English for work. Published twice a week, the articles include useful advice covering different aspects of business English including grammar, vocabulary, writing, speaking as well as fun topics. It'll take just a few minutes to read each tip. You can subscribe to English Bites! from the Newsletters link above. After that, you'll receive notifications of all new tips by email.

Idioms of Time

timeidiomsTime idioms are used in English in all kinds of situations, but especially in business where time is money! Below we list a number of common time idioms with an example sentences to illustrate each one. From the context of the example sentences, see if you can guess the meaning of the idioms.

You can spend time.

I spent 3 hours learning the basics of the computer programme.


You can waste time.

I wasted an hour waiting for her to finish her report.


Time can be a waste.

It's not worth going. The whole exhibition is a waste of time.


You can value time.

I value every minute I get to spend with my baby.


You can run out of time.

I didn't get the project finished as I would have liked. I ran out of time.


You can spare time.

Can you spare me a few minutes?


Time can be precious.

I travel a lot so the time I spend at home is very precious to me.


You can afford time.

We can't afford to spend any more time on this. We have a lot to cover today.


You can save time.

I've already dug out the old files to save time today.


You can be short of time.

We're short of time; we need to do a good job on this and get everything finished by 6 this evening!


You can have plenty of time.

We have plenty of time to worry about this later.
 

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