What’s a nicer way of phrasing ‘Aggressive schedule’?

The phrase ‘Aggressive schedule’ is often used to express a desire to achieve high performance and speed on a project, however has the negative connotation related to the word ‘aggressive’. If I’m expressing such a desire, I could say something like ‘I want us to have a focus on achieving delivery in the fastest possible … Read more

“Sorry if I bother you” vs. “Sorry to bother you” : Which one is more idiomatic?

I need to send an message via SMS to my supervisor. Which is more a idiomatic introduction? “Sorry if I bother you.” “Sorry if I bothered you.” “Sorry to bother you.” Answer This sort of question is easily answered by starting with Google Ngrams. Here’s the chart comparing Sorry if I bother you Sorry if … Read more

Is there an expression to say someone will replace me at a meeting?

I am writing an email to the top management to tell someone will replace me at a meeting I cannot attend. Is there a good expression / a better verb for this situation ? Or is ‘replace’ the good word ? I thought about “substitute” but it does not sound really better to me. I … Read more

An expression for the trigger of something that was inevitable

I’m looking for a way to describe the thing that finally triggers something after rising tensions. For example, some isolated incident triggers massive protests, but the protests are really due to decades of rising tensions. The isolated incident itself is somewhat arbitrary and could have been one of many things, but the rising tensions were … Read more

Using “proximity” to imply “next to each other”

I am currently writing the introduction to my thesis and I want to say that two genes are next to each other. I would like to use the word “proximity” without saying “close proximity” but am unsure whether it implies the closeness that I want the sentence to. I have read the thread regarding “close … Read more

How to express that a decision has developed from a thought?

Good evening from Germany! I’m currently writing a personal statement for my UCAS application and have got a problem concerning one of my sentences. Originally, I wrote: The decision to study X emerged during the last year and was… What I would like to express is that this is not something that I’ve always wanted … Read more

“What is your hobby?” VS “What are you into?”

My British English teacher told us that the expression “What is your hobby?” sounds childish so use “What are you into?” instead. Is it true? If so, why does that sound so? Thanks! Answer You teacher has expressed a personal opinion, one I do not share. “What are you into?” is a slang expression from … Read more