Phrases & Expressions

To be consistent with other facts, figures or accounts of the same thing.

• The witness's account does not tally with the evidence from the security cameras.
• These findings tally with earlier studies suggesting that regular exercise can improve children's concentration.

The steady growth in the importance or popularity of something, which seems impossible to stop.

• The inexorable rise of online shopping has forced many small high-street shops to close.
• The inexorable rise of artificial intelligence is changing the skills that employers look for in graduates.

Used to say that something is very likely to happen.

• With heavy rain forecast for the whole weekend, there is every likelihood that the match will be postponed.
• With such strong support from voters, there is every likelihood that the proposal will be approved.

To formally promise or agree that you will do something.

• The landlord undertook to repair the roof before the new tenants moved in.
• By signing the contract, the company undertakes to deliver all orders within five working days.

A system that is too large or complicated to manage or use efficiently.

• Critics say the tax rules have grown into an unwieldy system that few people fully understand.
• Merging the two hospital databases created an unwieldy system that slowed doctors down.

Opinions that are very different from each other.

• Experts hold widely divergent views on whether artificial intelligence will create or destroy jobs.
• The two political parties have widely divergent views on immigration, which makes cooperation difficult.