Phrases & Expressions

A way of living in which you spend little money and avoid waste.

• Some young people are choosing a frugal lifestyle so that they can save enough to buy a home.
• Her grandparents' frugal lifestyle, which involved repairing everything and wasting nothing, is now seen as environmentally friendly.

A partnership in which people work together and achieve useful, successful results.

• The project was the result of a fruitful collaboration between engineers and local farmers.
• We hope this agreement will lead to a long and fruitful collaboration between our two universities.

A fuller or more detailed explanation of something that is not completely clear.

• The spokesperson's statement was vague, so journalists pressed for further clarification on when the rules would apply.
• The committee asked for further clarification of how the money would be spent before approving the project.

To cause a lot of public argument and disagreement.

• The proposal to ban cars from the city centre has generated considerable controversy among local businesses.
• Genetic engineering continues to generate controversy, as people disagree strongly about its risks and benefits.

To make people curious about something or enthusiastic about it.

• Free museum entry has helped to generate interest in history among teenagers.
• The documentary generated a lot of interest in ocean conservation and led to a rise in donations.

To produce income for a business, organisation or government.

• Tourism generates significant revenue for many small island nations, but it can also damage the environment.
• The council hopes the new parking charges will generate revenue to repair the town's roads.

To receive extremely positive written opinions from critics or customers.

• The young director's first feature film got glowing reviews at several international festivals.
• Although the hotel got glowing reviews online, our stay there was a real disappointment.

To receive official permission from the local authority to build or change a building.

• You need to get planning permission before you can add an extra floor to your house.
• The supermarket chain failed to get planning permission for a new store on the edge of the village.

To discover the real, basic cause of a problem so that it can be properly solved.

• Punishing pupils for bad behaviour achieves little unless schools get to the root of the problem.
• The engineers spent three days testing the system before they finally got to the root of the fault.

To describe the main points of something without going into the details.

• In the overview paragraph, give a broad summary of the main trends before describing individual figures.
• The manager gave a broad summary of the company's plans and promised more details at next week's meeting.