048 Idioms and expressions for talking about failure

Idioms and Collocations for talking about failure

I think it is important to quickly review collocations for those who may need a refresher. As you may know, collocations are words in English that naturally go together. Many common collocations are formed using make and do. Some examples of these are, “do your homework” and “make arrangements”.

It is also important to note that there is a distinction between weak and strong collocations. Weak collocations for example are, “take a break” and “have a break”. The verb is different but both collocations mean the same thing.

Stronger collocations on the other hand are fixed in nature. You can’t modify the verb. Most collocations are strong, meaning they are fixed expressions. An example would be, “do the dishes”.

Due to the fixed nature of collocations they must be learnt by heart. We don’t associate grammar rules with collocations, so they must be acquired either through direct study, or indirectly through contact with native people or reading. I always encourage my students to read as much as they can, this is a great way and, in many cases, a free way to improve your English.

OK, now that we have that little definition out of the way, let’s take a look at some collocations. As always, I will give you the expression and then my attempt at the Spanish translation. If the translation sounds a bit weird then drop me an email to let me know the correct one. But hey, I’m not a native Spanish speaker and I don’t care, I just get on with it and that is what you should be doing with your English.

So, first one,

OK, now that we have looked at collocations, let’s turn our attention to some adjectives for describing failure.

Remember, adjectives can help you to better describe a situation, so you can put more emphasis on the type of failure.

In the following part I will give you the adjective and then I will share an example with you.

Adjectives for talking about failure

So, from this list you can see how we apply adjectives and collocate them with the word failure to describe the degree or severity of the failure. Remember, due to the nature of how some words can work together with others, not all adjectives will work with failure. For example, an entire failure does not collocate, however a complete failure does. So, even though entire and complete are synonyms, they don’t always collocate with the same words.

Let’s move on to the third part of this lesson.

Colloquial expression for talking about failure

In this part we are going to be looking at six colloquial expressions that you can use in less formal situations. It is important that you understand them in context if you are to use them correctly. To help you out, I have provided the translation.

There you have it, six colloquial expressions you may have never heard before.

Let’s wrap things up and look at a few of these expressions in context.

Expressions for failure in context

I’ll give you the situation, then the expression and then I will give you an example sentence which I hope will help you to better understand the context and meaning.

Before I go then, let’s just quickly cover how we can study, learn and internalise these expressions. Well, one of the best ways would be to listen to this episode a few times. Repetition is one of the most effective ways to learn new things.

Secondly, you can download the cheat sheet from the episode at the AOBE website. I have put all the expressions from today’s episode there, you can then review 5 expressions a day.

Finally, if you want to internalise these expressions then you are going to have to start using them in your everyday English. By that I mean, make a conscious effort to use at least 3 of these expressions this week in you next conversation, phone call or email. Remember, if you want to check that you have understood them in the right context, just send me an email with your sentence and I will tell you if that is correct or not.

Final thoughts

So, there you have it my friends, an extensive list of vocabulary and expressions for talking about failure. If you have any questions regarding this list then drop me an email at [email protected]. If you are new to the AOBE podcast then please head over to www.theartofbusinessenglish.com/subscribe to sign up for free. You can listen to the AOBE podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher. Make sure you also sign up to our mailing list and be the first to know when we release a new episode.

Well, that is all I have time for today, I look forward to having you all back with me again next week. Till then take… bye for now.