On the Breakout Business English podcast we focus on vocabulary, and methods to help you to build CONFIDENCE and FLUENCY in the English skills that you use in your professional life.

Breakout Business English

Almost daily, short podcasts to help you build a useful and modern vocabulary and improve your ability to communicate at work.

DAILY Business English VOCABULARY builder

To and for are some of the most common prepositions in English—you see them everywhere, in almost every sentence. That’s what makes it so frustrating to get them mixed up; after all, the for and to difference isn’t exactly easy to understand.

Word pairings that use to:
access to
addiction/addicted to
attraction/attracted to
change to
contribute to
dedicate/dedication to
new to
react/reaction to
refer/reference to
respond/response to
threat to
transition to
to some extent
to [someone’s] surprise
to [someone’s] face
to this day
Common phrasal verbs with to:

get around to
get down to
get to
look up to
see to
Word pairings that use for
advertise/advertisement for
approval for
argue/argument for
care for
cure for
hunger/hungry for
pay for
recipe for
room for
search for
study for
talent for
thirst/thirsty for
for a living
for a while
for free
for good
for now
for sale
for starters
for sure
for the best
for the record
for the time being
Common phrasal verbs with for:

go for
look for
look / watch out for

Dusty's LETS TALK!

To vs. For: What’s the Difference?

A gerund is a verb in its present participle form (root verb + “ing”) that acts as a noun in a sentence. 

What are the different kinds of gerunds?
Subject
Direct object
Indirect object
Object of a preposition
Subject complement
Object complement

What Is a Gerund? Not just "ing"

An anecdote is a quick story about something of interest, usually with a singular theme or lesson. Anecdotes are no different than the stories told among friends, but when they’re used in literature, they can accomplish more than merely passing the time. 


Types of Anecdotes: 
Although there is no formal grouping, anecdotes tend to fall into the categories of 
cautionary, 
characterizing, 
humorous, 
inspirational, 
reminiscent. 

However, these are not mutually exclusive and can be blended together

What Is an Anecdote, and How Do You Write One?

Impersonal verbs are verbs that do not use a specific subject, but instead use the generic subject it. They’re often called “weather verbs” or “meteorological verbs” because they’re commonly used to describe the weather, like in the impersonal verb examples “it’s raining” or “it’s snowing.” 

 Words and phrases with asterisks mean that they are not always impersonal, depending on the meaning. 

be*
blizzard
come to*
darken*
drizzle*
get*
go without saying*
hail*
happen*
look like*
occur*
pour*
rain
say*
sleet
snow
storm
thunder

A Guide to Impersonal Verbs

The red herring fallacy, one of the many logical fallacies you might encounter in essays, speeches, opinion pieces, and even casual conversations, is an attempt to reroute a discussion from its original topic and focus on something unrelated. 

Red Herring Fallacy, Explained

In this episode, we will talk about Nelson Mandela. An influential person who freed South Africans of the oppressive Apartheid government. Check out these movies about Mandela: “Invictius”, “Mandela”, “Mandela and Klerk”, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” and “Endgame”.