Phrases & Expressions

Something so absorbing to read that you keep going until you reach the end.

• Her biography of the scientist is compulsive reading, even for people who know nothing about physics.
• The report on the bank's collapse made compulsive reading for investors and journalists alike.

To behave in the way that rules, customs or other people expect.

• Pupils at the academy are expected to conform to a strict dress code and clear rules of behaviour.
• Teenagers often feel pressure to conform to what their friends think is cool.

A person who does their job carefully and thoroughly and treats every duty as important.

• Employers value conscientious workers who check their work carefully and rarely need to be reminded about deadlines.
• She was such a conscientious worker that her manager trusted her with the company's most important clients.

To make the water that people use for drinking dirty or dangerous by adding harmful substances.

• Chemicals leaking from the factory contaminated the water supply, and hundreds of local residents fell ill.
• Farmers are being urged to use fewer pesticides, which can contaminate water supplies in rural areas.

To show results that are the opposite of, or do not agree with, earlier research.

• The new study contradicts previous findings that drinking coffee is harmful to the heart.
• If your results contradict previous findings, you should discuss possible reasons for the difference in your report.

To talk with someone, exchanging thoughts and information.

• Thanks to the exchange programme, students can converse with native speakers every single day.
• Elderly patients often feel less lonely when nurses find time to converse with them during long hospital stays.

To match something closely or be the equivalent of it.

• The figures in the final report do not correspond to those in the original survey, which worries the researchers.
• Each number on the map corresponds to a site of historical interest listed at the bottom of the page.

Of prices or numbers, to rise slowly and gradually, often without people noticing.

• Rents in the city centre have been creeping up for years, forcing many students to live further out.
• Check your bills regularly, because subscription costs tend to creep up without you realising it.

A way of doing something that is slow, complicated and involves too many steps.

• Applying for a building permit is still a cumbersome process involving dozens of forms.
• Many small businesses avoid exporting because dealing with customs paperwork is such a cumbersome process.

To reduce the number of official rules and procedures that cause unnecessary delays.

• The new government promised to cut red tape so that small businesses could grow more easily.
• The hospital has cut red tape so that doctors spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.