Communicating

at cross purposes : if two people are at cross purposes, they do not understand each other because they are

talking about or aiming at different things, without realizing it.

- They had been talking at cross purposes earlier, he realized. They hadn’t been offering him a share of the

deal at all.

come out of your shell : to become less shy and more confident when talking to other people

- He has really come out of his shell since he met Marie.

find common ground : to find a particular subject or opinion that they agree about

- Both leaders were keen to stress that they were seeking to find common ground.

(straight) from the horse’s mouth : (of information) given by someone who is directly involved and

therefore likely to be accurate

- When he tells them, straight from the horse’s mouth, what a good assistant you are, they’ll increase your

wages.

get your wires/lines crossed : to be mistaken about what someone else means

- She looked confused at what he said and he began to wonder if he’d got his wires crossed.

- We seem to have got our wires crossed. I thought you were coming on Tuesday.

go/fly off on a tangent : to suddenly start talking or thinking about a completely new subject

- It’s hard to get a firm decision out of him – he’s always going off on a tangent.

- Our teacher would occasionally go off on a tangent and start talking about something totally unrelated to

the textbook.

hear sth through/on the grapevine : to hear news from someone who heard the news from someone else

- I heard through the grapevine that she was looking for work.

- She heard through the grapevine that he had come back to London.

in black and white : in writing (giấy trắng mực đen)

- We have a strict, clear rule in black and white, that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated.

- I had to believe it, because it was there in black and white.

in the loop : part of a group of people who have information

- Not many people knew what was going on but the president was almost certainly in the loop.

- A lot of people want to be in the loop on this operation.

keep sb posted (about/on) : to regularly give someone the most recent information about sth and how it is

developing.

= keep/bring sb up to speed

- She made me promise to keep her posted on developments here while she was in London.

let the cat out of the bag : to allow a secret to be known, usually without intending to

- I was trying to keep the party a secret, but me went and let the cat out of the bag.
put sb in the picture : to tell someone the facts about a situation

- His lawyer put him in the picture about what had happened since his arrest.

- I believe that I could now produce evidence to prove my case, so let me put you in the picture.

spill the beans (about) : to tell people secret information

- He was scared to death and I was going to spill the beans to the cops

- So who spilled the beans about her affair with David?

touch base (with) : to talk to someone for a short time to find out how they are or what they think about st

- I just wanted to quickly touch base with you : did you get an email from my secretary about the meeting?

- A brief phone-call is often made to touch base and update the parent on any developments.