Welcome back to Business English Pod. My name’s Edwin, and I’ll be your host for today’s lesson on business English idioms for giving advice and warnings.
People don’t usually deal with problems or make big decisions on their own. No, they usually turn to those around them for advice. And unless you work alone on an island, you probably find yourself giving advice to others on a regular basis. Could be a colleague coming by your office to chat about a difficult project. Or it might be a friend calling you up for help with a workplace conflict.
But we sometimes find ourselves giving advice even when it’s not asked for. You might be chatting with an employee and realize they’re about to take a big risk. Or a co-worker might be about to accept a bad deal. Whatever the case, it’s your job to warn them about the hazards of their choices.
When you give advice, you can rely on the usual language of suggestions, and expressions like “should” and “how about doing” something. But we also have a lot of English idioms for these situations. And it’s these idioms of advice that we’ll look at today.
In the dialog, we’ll hear a conversation between two work friends, Ryan and Dana. Dana has had ongoing problems with another colleague named Jane. She’s telling Ryan all about the latest developments in the conflict. And Ryan is giving both advice and warnings to her about her approach to the problem. In their conversation, they use lots of useful business English idioms.
Listening Questions
1. What does Ryan think Dana should do instead of avoiding Jane?
2. What does Ryan say about Dana’s plan to send Jane an email?
3. Dana misunderstands some of Ryan’s advice. What does she incorrectly think he is telling her to do?
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