Hello, everybody, this is Professor Adir Ferreira, speaking directly from Bebedouro, são Paulo. First, I’d like to apologize for my voice, the weather has been very dry so it takes a toll on, you know, it affects severely my throat.
Well, this podcast will be about business phrasal verbs. Yes, those phrasal verbs that are used in business contexts.
The first verb we’re going to see is to lay somebody off. This is used when companies stop employing someone, sometimes temporarily, because they don’t have money to pay them or because there’s no position for them at the company.
Here are some examples:
GM laid off thousands of employees a couple of years ago.
or we can say that thousands of people were laid off because of the recession.
There is the noun, layoff. Notice that a layoff can also mean when people aren’t working temporarily, not permanently. Check out the examples:
The recent economic crisis has had massive layoffs.
That famous Brazilian soccer player is on a six-week layoff because of his knee injuries.
If you want to use a more formal expression, use to make someone redundant or to be made redundant. This expression doesn’t have the temporary aspect of to lay somebody off, people are not working there permanently.
Our next business English phrasal verb is to phase out. If you phase out a product, a method, or an idea, you gradually stop using it. We can say that manufacturers have been phasing out animal testing or we can also say that a company is going to phase their production system out in the next few years and replace it with a new and more effective one.
I just read online that Oxford University may phase out its printed version of its famous dictionary so only the online version will be available. I also read online that California will phase out the use of incandescent bulbs by 2018, so they will no longer be available or used.
Our third, and last, business phrasal verb is to rule out. If you rule out an idea or a course of action, you decide that it’s impossible, unsuitable or you prevent something from happening. Here are some examples:
They don’t rule out the possibility of kidnapping. This means that they still think that kidnapping is what happened.
The director didn’t rule out the need for further job cuts. Here again the director still thinks the company will need to lay people off, to fire them.
That solution was ruled out as too expensive. They considered plenty of options and ended up thinking that the solution was too expensive to be carried out.
His age has ruled him out for the top job at the firm. His age prevented him from getting the top job at the firm, it was a determinant factor.
Police said that arson couldn’t be ruled out as possible cause. Police thought that arson was a possible cause.
This is it for today, people! See you all next time! Take care and bye bye.
