Business English – time idioms

Business English – time idioms

There are a lot of idioms talking about time as if it were money.

You can spend time.

*I spent 3 hours doing that.

You can waste time.

*I wasted an hour waiting for her.

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 the time we need to do a good job on this.

You can have plenty of time.

*We have plenty of time to worry about this later.

exercise 1

exercise 2