Business Idioms 9: Hard work I

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This lesson will focus on using a variety of expressions related to hard work.

Introduction:

This lesson will help you use these idioms describing hard work. You will also get a chance to talk about your own experiences.

Warm Up:

What’s the difference between being busy, and being productive? Which one requires more hard work?

Language:

Please consider each expression and match them to the images. Your instructor has an example and a question regarding each one.

be snowed under—have a lot of work to do.
work your fingers to the bone—work very hard for a long time.
crack the whip—use your authority to push someone to work harder.
all in a day’s work—express the idea that although you have accomplished something, it's just a normal part of your job.
put your nose to the grindstone—work very hard.
burn the candle at both ends—go to bed late and get up early.

Practice:

Read each section and choose an appropriate idiom from the list above.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan was known to practice at least 5 hours every day. In addition to that, before regular practice started, Jordan would practice at his house. He...
Today I had to prepare for a big presentation. I worked through lunch, but when I showed my PowerPoint slides to my manager, he had a lot of feedback. So I ended up revising most of the slides. But I'm really happy with the final version. It's...
Our colleague Jim can't come out for drinks after work. He...
Back in college, I not only studied, but I also worked a part-time job, and on top of that, I went out with friends 3 or 4 nights a week. I...
Steve Jobs was known to push his employees harder than they even thought possible. But apparently, at times he wasn't that nice about it. He...
Our team has a big deadline next Monday. I'm not sure we'll make it. We'll have to...

Use idioms to discuss the following questions.

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