Phrases & Expressions

To make it easier for people to share information and ideas with each other.

• Online discussion forums can facilitate communication among students who are too shy to speak up in class.
• Translation apps can facilitate communication between doctors and patients who do not share a language.

To experience a sudden, brief feeling that you have done something wrong.

• I felt a pang of guilt when I saw my mother doing all the housework on her own.
• Many working parents feel a pang of guilt when they miss important moments in their children's lives.

To feel naturally close to someone or something because you share similar qualities or ideas.

• Many first-generation university students feel an affinity with teachers who come from similar backgrounds.
• Having grown up by the sea, I've always felt a strong affinity with people who live in fishing villages.

To feel sad and disappointed, especially after a failure.

• Students often feel dejected when their hard work does not lead to the grades they had hoped for.
• The players felt dejected after losing the final in the last minute of the match.

To appoint someone to a job that is currently vacant.

• The school has struggled to fill the post of maths teacher since last September.
• It took the charity six months to fill the post after the director resigned.

Supplies of natural materials, such as oil or metals, that exist only in limited quantities.

• Some environmentalists argue that endless economic growth is impossible on a planet with finite resources.
• Recycling metals and plastics helps to reduce the demand placed on the earth's finite resources.

(of clothes or colours) to make your body shape look as attractive as possible.

• Personal shoppers help customers find clothes that flatter their figure and suit their lifestyle.
• That dark blue dress really flatters your figure, so you should definitely wear it to the wedding.

Information that contains mistakes and therefore cannot be trusted.

• The study's conclusions were rejected because they were based on flawed data from a small, unrepresentative sample.
• Policies built on flawed data can waste millions of pounds of public money.

To keep rising and falling suddenly and by large amounts.

• The graph shows that the price of coffee fluctuated wildly between 2000 and 2010.
• Temperatures in the desert fluctuate wildly, from extreme heat during the day to freezing cold at night.

To realise in advance that difficulties are likely to happen.

• The project manager foresaw problems with the supplier early on, so she found another company to provide the materials.
• If you foresee any problems with the deadline, please let me know as soon as possible.