Essential Idioms
What did they say again?
First, the idiomatic way
Sue: I won’t give you a blow-byblow account, but I thought we’d reached the end of the line. Craig: How so?
Sue: Well, first off, we’d lost our best programmer on the project.
Now, more simply
Sue: I won’t give you all the details of everything that happened, but I thought we’d reached a point at which we could no longer continue.
Craig: Could you explain?
Sue: Well, first of all, we’d lost our best programmer on the project.
First, the idiomatic way
Sue: She left us high and dry. To make it worse, she joined a competitor. I felt sick to my stomach! Craig: I can imagine.
Sue: It would be a race against time to finish on time.
Now, more simply
Sue: She left us in a very bad situation. To make it worse, she joined a competitor. I felt really ill. Craig: I can imagine.
Sue: It would be necessary to act really quickly, as we only had a limited period to finish on time.
First, the idiomatic way
Sue: At this point, we were all
having kittens. There was so much on the line. My reputation, my company — so many jobs.
Craig: What did you do?
Sue: To cut a long story short,i had to do something. But it was no picnic!
Now, more simply
Sue: At this point, we were all extremely nervous. There was so much at risk. My reputation, my company — so many jobs.
Craig: What did you do?
Sue: To keep it short, I had to do something. But it was not easy!
First, the idiomatic way
Sue: On the spur of the moment, I held a three-day hackathon with freelance programmers.
Craig: Great idea!
Sue: I offered the best three a job.
As luck would have it, one accepted and could start the next day. The rest is history.
Now, more simply
Sue: Very quickly, without any plan, I held a three-day hackathon with freelance programmers. Craig: Great idea!
Sue: I offered the best three a job. It was lucky for us that one accepted and could start the next day. I don’t need to tell you the rest because everyone knows what happened.