Well, back to work! And my boss has called a meeting.

I wonder what it's about. Maybe we're all getting raises! Ooo,
there's Jonathan! Maybe he knows.
So, Jonathan, what do you think today's meeting is about?
The email sounded important.

I have heard people in the building talking about budget cuts.

[ + obj + -ing verb ] I heard/I could hear someone calling my name.
[ + obj + infinitive without to ] At eight o'clock Jane heard him go
out.
Can you hear that strange clicking noise?
I could hear someone crying in the next room.
The human ear cannot hear very high-frequency sounds.
We heard some shooting in the night.
Penelope, have you heard the news? Today's meeting is about
budget cuts.

I have heard people in the building talking about budget cuts.

You're right. No more talk about budget cuts.
I just heard Anna and Jonathan talking about budget cuts.
That must be what the meeting is about. When there are budget
cuts, people lose their jobs.
budget is an amount of money available for spending that is
based on a plan for how it will be spent.
The school budget is going to be cut again this year.
The project went over budget because of a miscalculation at
the planning stage.
She managed to complete her last film well within budget.

I know, but Mark knows everything that goes on at The Studio.

I'm sure we never hear about a lot of what goes on in government.
This war has been going on for years.
He likes to know what's going on.
Hello, hello. What's going on here then?
The meeting was going on in the room next door.
It's hard to know what goes on behind my back.
We shouldn't gossip. That's how rumors start. We'll just go to
the meeting and see what happens.
gossip means conversation or reports about other
people's private lives that might be unkind, disapproving, or
not true:
I've just been talking to the girls downstairs and I've got
some delicious gossip.
Some magazines contain nothing but scandal and gossip.
She always keeps me up to date with the latest gossip.
There's a lot of gossip about me going around. What have you
been saying?
Let's go for a coffee - I need to catch up on all the gossip.
Her letter was full of gossip.
I don't like all this idle gossip.
I've got some juicy gossip for you.
Have you heard the (latest) gossip?
Rumor is information or a story that is passed from person to
person but has not been proven to be true.
Rumors are going around (the school) about Mr. Mason and
his assistant.
[ + that ] She's circulating/spreading rumors that the manager is
going to resign.
I heard a rumor that she'd been seeing Luke Harrison.
I can't go back to being a detective. Criminals scare me!
And I can't go back to being a teacher! High school kids scare me!

That restaurant was terrible - I'm never going back there again.
I'll have to go back for my umbrella.
Do you think you'll ever go back to London?
When do you go back to school?
Let's go back to the beginning and start again.
We can always go back to the original plan if necessary.
We realized we had taken the wrong road and had to go back.

That TV will have to go back to the shop - it

hasn't worked properly ever since I bought it.
Snakes scare me.
Jesse doesn’t scare easily.
Sudden noises scare her.
He scared me out of my wits (= made
me extremely frightened) by driving so fast.
Meeting new people scares me stiff/to death (= makes
me extremely nervous and worried).

You can make the name of a job by adding an ending to a verb!

Kaveh reports, so, he's a reporter. Amelia used to detect, so she
was a detective. If you teach, you're a teacher. And a
videographer….uh, I think you understand. Back to the story.
Update your résumé. I’ve already updated mine.
We'll update you on this news story throughout the day.

Their website is updated daily.

Can you update me on progress so far?
Do you have an updated version of the system?
She spent several hours updating the mailing list.
Jo's just doing an update on the mailing list.
I'll need regular updates on your progress.
They haven't updated the software in three years.
We've recently updated the decor in all of our restaurants.
Scientific textbooks must be updated regularly.

This meeting won’t take long. Then you can all leave.
What is wrong with everyone? You look like I'm going to fire you.
Seriously, what is wrong with everyone?

Well, everyone has been worrying about, you know … We’ve been
worrying that you are going to fire us!

I’m not going to fire any of you! No! The reason for this meeting is
to tell you what a good job you’ve been doing and give out
new assignments. Budget cuts have been happening. But only
one person has lost their job. Now, let’s talk about those new
assignments.