职场英语离不开短语动词。同事的一条消息里可能同时出现 follow up、push back、roll out、catch up 和 sign off,而这些词没有一个会出现在教材的商务词汇章节里。
这也是一个关于语域的陷阱。Call off the meeting 是正常的口语;the meeting has been cancelled 才是书面语该用的说法。同时掌握两种说法,并知道什么场合用哪一种——这正是所谓「听起来专业」的很大一部分内容。
会议与日程安排
| 短语动词 | 含义 | 正式说法 |
|---|---|---|
| set up | 安排 | arrange, schedule |
| put off | 推迟 | postpone, defer |
| call off | 取消 | cancel |
| move up | 提前 | bring forward |
| push back | 推后 | delay, reschedule |
| run over | 超时 | overrun |
| kick off | 开始 | commence, begin |
| wrap up | 结束 | conclude |
- Can we push the review back to Thursday?
- The demo ran over by twenty minutes, so we wrapped up early.
请注意 push back 还有第二个含义——提出异议——只能靠语境区分:She pushed back on the estimate 这句话和日程安排完全无关。
描述工作进展
| 短语动词 | 含义 |
|---|---|
| follow up (on) | 回头跟进、核实 |
| carry out | 执行 |
| take on | 承担 |
| hand over | 移交给别人 |
| sort out | 解决、处理好 |
| figure out | 弄明白、搞清楚 |
| look into | 调查、研究 |
| draw up | 起草(文件) |
| roll out | 逐步推出 |
| scale back | 缩减 |
- I'll look into it and follow up tomorrow.
- We're rolling the feature out to ten percent of users first.
「follow up」尤其需要留意写法——作动词时是两个单词(I'll follow up),作名词或定语时要加连字符(a follow-up email)。写成「I'll followup」是一个很小的错误,但会被人注意到。
关于人和决策
| 短语动词 | 含义 |
|---|---|
| bring up | 提出(话题) |
| point out | 指出 |
| back up | 支持 |
| rule out | 排除某个选项 |
| go with | 选定 |
| sign off on | 正式批准 |
| step down | 卸任、辞职 |
| fill in for | 临时代替 |
- She brought up a good point about the deadline.
- Legal still has to sign off on the contract.
- I'm filling in for Marta while she's away.
面试中会遇到的两个短语动词
Come across as —— 给人留下……的印象。He came across as very organised. 这正是面试官在面试现场心里想的话,所以能用英语描述它非常实用。
Get up to speed —— 熟悉情况、进入状态。It took me two weeks to get up to speed on the codebase. 在回答「讲讲你是怎么融入新团队的」这类问题时,这几乎是必备的表达。
口语与书面语的对比
同一条信息,用两种方式表达:
口语,对同事说
We had to call off Tuesday's session because the client pushed the deadline back. I'll set something up for next week and follow up with the notes.
书面,写给客户
Tuesday's session has been cancelled, as the deadline has been deferred. I will schedule an alternative for next week and share the notes afterwards.
两种说法没有哪个更好。第一种用在给客户的邮件里会显得太随意;第二种要是在站会上说出来,则会显得生硬冷淡。在职场上运用自如,靠的正是懂得如何选择。
自我检测
下面的测验考察这些短语动词的含义、push back 的两种意思,以及如何在两栏说法之间做出恰当的语域选择。