Phrases & Expressions

To develop a friendly relationship with someone in which you understand each other well.

• Doctors who take time to build a rapport with their patients often find it easier to discuss sensitive health problems.
• Good teachers try to build a rapport with every student in their class.

Official rules that cause too much work, cost or difficulty for the people who must follow them.

• Small business owners often complain about burdensome regulations that take time away from running their companies.
• The new government promised to cut burdensome regulations in order to encourage foreign investment.

To spend nearly all your time studying and ignore other activities.

• Once the exam timetable came out, my flatmate buried herself in her books and hardly left the library.
• You can't just bury yourself in your books all term; you need some time to relax and see friends.

Used to say how many times bigger or smaller an amount becomes.

• The cost of solar panels has fallen by a factor of ten over the past two decades.
• Since the new railway line opened, passenger numbers in the region have increased by a factor of four.

To agree with an opponent to stop fighting or arguing, at least for a while.

• The rival gangs called a truce after a series of violent clashes left several teenagers badly injured.
• My sister and I finally called a truce and agreed to share the car on alternate weekends.

Used to complain that there is so much noise that you cannot concentrate.

• With the drilling next door going on all day, I can't hear myself think, let alone write my essay.
• The open-plan office is so noisy that on most days I can't hear myself think.

To continue doing something even though there are problems, warnings or objections.

• The doctor told him to rest, but he carried on regardless and went back to work the next day.
• Even when it started pouring with rain, the band carried on regardless and nobody in the crowd went home.

To make a sudden check on a few people or things chosen at random.

• Inspectors may carry out a spot check at any time, so restaurant kitchens must be kept clean every day.
• An inspector from the exam board carried out a spot check halfway through the test and found two students using phones.

To still show or feel the damage caused by a bad experience long after it has ended.

• The town still carries the scars of the factory closures, with empty shops and high unemployment.
• Some families carried the scars of the financial crisis for years, long after the economy had recovered.

To help explain something or make it clearer by providing new information.

• More research is needed to cast light on the long-term effects of screen time on young children.
• The old letters cast new light on the writer's early life.