ESL Podcast 556 - Scheduling an Appointment
to make an appointment - to schedule a time when one will be able to do something
Don't forget to make an appointment with the doctor for your son's shots.
appointment schedule - a calendar showing when one is committed to doing certain things and meeting with certain people
His appointment schedule is full this week, but he could see you next Tuesday in the afternoon.
tied up - busy; unavailable
Lately, she has been really tied up at work, staying at the office until late at night.
to shuffle around - to move or change things; to reorganize things so that they are in different positions in space or time
Why are all these articles due on the same day? Unless we can shuffle around the deadlines, we'll never get them all finished on time.
commitment - obligation; something that one has promised to do; something that one has agreed to do and therefore should do
As a married couple, they made a commitment to donate 10% of their income to their church.
to free (someone or something) up - to make someone or something available for a particular purpose at a particular time
Can you please try to free up the conference room for tomorrow's meeting?
to be out - to not be an option; to not be available for use; to not be able to participate
I've been looking for a place where we can have the wedding reception, but all the nice hotels are out, because other events have been planned there for months.
to bump - to change when something will happen, so that something else can happen at that time
Our client meeting was bumped because there was an emergency company meeting scheduled at the last minute for that same time.
to last - to happen for a certain period of time; to not end until a certain amount of time has passed
I have only one class today, but it lasts nearly three hours.
to run late - to be behind schedule; to be doing things later than one had planned because each thing is taking longer than expected
Jay called from his cell phone to say that he's running late because there's a lot of traffic, but he'll be here as soon as he can.
better yet - an expression used to introduce a better idea or another solution that might work better than the one that was being discussed previously
We could celebrate by cooking a nice meal at home or, better yet, we could go out to eat at a nice restaurant.
to finagle - to behave in a clever, tricky or secretive way to get something that one wants or needs
How did you finagle front-row tickets for the concert?
to push back - to move something to a later time or date
Can we push back your interview until 3:00? That should give us enough time to review and discuss your résumé before you get here.
to pencil (someone) in - to write someone's name on a calendar showing when one plans to meet with that person, but while waiting to receive final confirmation
Let's pencil in the conference for March 9th , but that might need to change depending on whether the facility is available then.
to confirm - to verify that something is true or correct
A good reporter always confirms information before writing about it in a news article.
heads up - information shared in advance; a warning
If you think you might get here late, please call to give us a heads up.
to spin (one's) wheels - to be involved in a lot of activities or to be very busy, but without having results to show for it
Mojtaba was spinning his wheels all day at work, but he didn't really get anything finished.
every single day - every day; each day, used to stress that something happens every day, without it missing a day
Every single day, Bettina brings the same food to the office for lunch.