Business English idioms – heart
Learn new expressions in English with these exercises:
If you get discouraged, you ‘lose heart’.
* When I saw how good the other contestants were I began to lose heart a bit.
* Don’t lose heart. We can still do well.
At the moment you feel disappointed or discouraged your ‘heart sinks’.
* My heart sank when I saw how much work was left to do.
* Her heart sank when she heard the bad news.
If you really really want to do or have something, you ‘set your heart on’ it.
* I’ve set my heart on getting a Ferrari before I am thirty.
* She set her heart on getting that job so she’s very disappointed.
If you find encouragement from something, you ‘take heart’.
* I took heart from your words of encouragement.
* We should take heart from our improved performance in Italy.
If you cannot refuse somebody something, even though you know it is not a good idea, you ‘didn’t have the heart to say no’.
* She really wanted to borrow it and I didn’t have the heart to say no.
* When he pleaded with me, I didn’t have the heart to say no.
If something will make you very sad, it will ‘break your heart’.
* It breaks my heart to sell my car but it’s become too unreliable.
* It breaks my heart to leave here. I’ve really enjoyed it.
If you care a lot about something, it is ‘a subject close to your heart’.
* Fighting world hunger is a subject close to my heart.
* Punctuality is a subject close to my heart.
If somebody is very kind and generous to others, they have ‘a heart of gold’.
* He appears bad –tempered but he’s got a heart of gold.
* Under that gruff exterior lurks a heart of gold.
If you are no longer motivated to do something, your ‘heart is not in it’.
* I’m going to give up this job. My heart is not in it any more.
* She went through the motions but her heart just wasn’t in it.
Your truest inner feelings are your ‘heart of hearts’.
* In my heart of hearts, I never really wanted to leave here.
* I’m happy in my management job but in my heart of hearts I’d rather still be a researcher.
If you change your mind, you ‘have a change of heart’.
* We weren’t going to give him the promotion but then we had a change of heart.
* After a change of heart, she finally agreed to move to Berlin.
If you are well-intentioned, your ‘heart is in the right place’.
* He is a bit rude sometimes but his heart is in the right place.
* She makes a lot of mistakes but her heart is in the right place and she always does her best.
If you memorize something word by word you learn them ‘by heart’.
* I’ve decided to learn the English irregular verbs by heart.
* There is no need to tell me about it. I’ve read so much about it that I know all the details by heart.
If you have an intimate discussion about your true feelings, you have a ‘heart-to-heart’ talk.
* Something is bothering him. I’m going to have a heart-to-heart talk with him and find out what it is.
* We need to have a heart-to-heart discussion and clear the air between us.
‘At heart’ can mean fundamentally, in one’s deepest feelings.
* He is a good all-round manager but at heart he’s an engineer.
* I want you to know that we have your best interests at heart in sending you to Berlin for a year.
Exercise
http://www.business-english.com/heartidioms/exercise1.swf
http://www.business-english.com/heartidioms/exercise2.swf
http://www.business-english.com/heartidioms/exercise3.swf
http://www.business-english.com/heartidioms/exercise4.swf
http://www.business-english.com/heartidioms/exercise5.swf
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