BE 361: Are You Dead Set on Learning Business English?
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This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 361. Are you dead set on learning Business English?

Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English. Get the English skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business. For a presentation, a meeting, or your office party, this is Real Business English with your favorite American hosts, Lindsay and Aubrey, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. Welcome to the Business English podcast from All Ears English.

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Hey Aubrey, how's it going today? I'm great, Lindsay. How are you? Good, good. Aubrey, I have a question for you. You ready? Yes, let's hear it. All right. So what's something that you are dead set on?

Oh, well, I'm going to answer for my son, William, who was dead set on memorizing a speech for a speech competition at his school. And he actually just gave it yesterday and killed it. He did amazing. He actually won. So now he's going to represent the district. I'm so proud of him. But he was dead set. He spent like an hour a day for three months memorizing. Three months.

No wonder he won. That's amazing. I mean, that kind of hard work is going to pay off, right? A hundred percent. And so nice to see that actually pay off. You know what I mean? As a mom, I'm sure that is so gratifying. I love that. Yes, it really was, right? He's so proud of himself and I'm just, it's couldn't be better. So excited for him. But this phrase dead set.

Dead Set On came up in a recent episode. State of the End will share which one it was. And it just came up so naturally in the conversation. I'm like, we need to dive in and do a whole episode about this. If you have the app, you have it with your keywords because we highlighted it in the app, but we didn't really talk about it in the episode.

Yeah, exactly. And it's important to be able to express that you are determined. You know, something is going to happen because this is the good stuff in life. This is how we get to good stuff like winning a speech competition or accomplishing a life goal that we have.

right? So we need to be able to communicate this. This is the connection skill today. Absolutely, right? Determination is such a vital... I really respect determination in anyone when people really put in hard work. So definitely hit follow, guys, so you never miss an episode right here on the Business English Podcast.

All right. So let's go straight to the phrase that we want to learn about today. And then we have a couple of other ones that mean the same thing. So to be dead set on. To be dead set on. What is it, Aubrey? Yeah. So this means firmly determined. And we do use this very often in business English because that often at work, we're setting goals. This is when we're the most determined to see something through often.

Yeah. And often, and this will be a great episode for the beginning of the year too. This is coming out in January. It's the perfect, you know, we're setting our goals for the year. Businesses are and individuals are as well. So what are you dead set on for the new year? This is actually a great way to ask someone about their new year's resolutions to say, what are you dead set on accomplishing this year?

Exactly. Or let's say that you have hired a designer for your remodeling your kitchen and they come in and they say, are you dead set on this design? Because I have some other ideas, for example, right? Exactly. Right. It's such a great way to find out how set someone is, how determined they are to stick with that. Or maybe...

know at a meeting you could say all right we need to start in five minutes i'm dead set on starting on time this is kind of just a fun way of like getting everyone sitting and so you're like okay it's really important that we start on time yeah and that could mean every time you are dead set on starting on time as a characteristic of you or it could just mean today you are because you have a lunch thing after and you have to hurry right exactly

Yes. And we also use dead set against, which means firmly opposed to something, right? You might say, I'm dead set against hiring this candidate. If you've just done a panel interview and you feel very strongly that we need to go a different route.

Yeah. Sometimes you just don't, you don't really know why, but you just get a gut feeling and sometimes it's good to go with your gut with things like that. Right? Exactly. And it's just interesting how we change it. We wouldn't say I'm dead set on not doing this. It's like too wordy and said, we'll say I'm dead set against that.

Yeah, I like that. So that's some really sophisticated way of saying that in this chunk. But there is another way to say basically the same thing. Aubrey, what would it be? So it's bent on means the same. This phrasal verb, you might say she's bent on finishing on time. She's been staying late every night, right? So someone's got a project that's due Friday. If you are bent on finishing on time, you're going to stay late. Make sure it gets done on time.

Yeah, it's a little less common bent on, but it means the same thing. So here's another example for our listeners. I'm sorry I've been late so many times. I'm bent on getting here on time from now on.

Okay, so you're basically committed to you're committing to in that moment. Exactly right. It has the same meaning I can firmly determine this is going to happen. I am bent on doing this. And there is a variation in the US, maybe in other English speaking countries, but definitely in the US, where before bent on, there's a curse word that would be added, we can't say it on the podcast, but you're definitely going to hear it.

And that's probably the reason why when I hear just bent alone, it feels a little awkward to me because usually people do use that curse word. And again, we don't curse on the show. So that's important for our listeners to know in the real world. All right, Aubrey, there's a number three. What is it?

Now, this is the adjective adamant. So this is the most formal of all of these, but it means the same thing, really, to be so determined that you refuse to change your mind. Yes, exactly. Refusing to be persuaded or to change your mind. So, for example, he was adamant that we change our policy. So he really argued that we should change it.

Exactly. Right. It sort of has the same meaning as insistent, but adamant is more about your mindset being really decided and insistent is more about your actively insisting on something. Yes, I love that. And what's another sample sentence here? You could say the client is adamant that everything be turned in by Friday. So maybe they've sent an email every day reminding us this has to be turned in by Friday. We'd say they're adamant about that deadline. Yeah.

Yeah. And sometimes if you hire maybe an agency to do some kind of design project, like a website redesign, it's good as the client of that agency to be adamant about deadlines because projects can really blow up, you know, and agencies have a lot of other clients. So sometimes there is a time and a place to be adamant if you're working with a service provider outside of your company.

Totally right. If your work is waiting on someone else's, you might have to be adamant that that gets to you on time or everything gets thrown off. Oh my gosh. I think our website redesign that we did back in 2020, it was scoped out at like a 60 day project. It took like six months or nine months. I think it was crazy. Yeah. So were you adamant that it get done on time? I became increasingly adamant later on. Right. Yeah. For sure. After five months. Yeah. After five months. Yes.

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Okay, Aubrey, we're back and let's do a role play. So we're trying to come up with a new product idea. Yeah. All right. I'll start us out. Let's avoid niche markets. I'm dead set on coming up with something that appeals to the general public. Well, our investors are adamant about that as well. Makes sense. They're bent on recouping their investment.

Yes, everyone is determined. Yes, exactly. Right. And imagine you have this short conversation. You need to say all of these things. You can't repeat the same word over and over. So it's really nice to have multiple options to have synonyms that really mean basically the same thing.

Yeah, it also makes me think of the phrase to have your heart set on something. It's a little bit related, kind of. It's a little different, a little more whimsical, maybe more childish or something. But we do use that even in business. Absolutely. They can say they have their heart set on this being done in time really means the same thing. Exactly.

Yep, for sure. So the first thing you said, Aubrey, was let's avoid niche markets. I'm dead set on coming up with something that appeals to the general public. So you're going to go more broad in your product. Yeah. So I'm saying I am firmly determined that maybe we did something for a niche market. Maybe we did something for pets last time and we're like, let's do something for the general public this time. Yes. And then I said, our investors are adamant about that as well. Right. And then you said, well,

They're bent on recouping their investment. So everyone's firmly determined here about something, right? But you'll hear all of these. I use all of these and they're all very professional. They're all perfect for the work environment.

And again, like I said, for this time of year, because this is the time when we're sitting down, we're setting our goals, but we're looking at what we want to get done in 2025. So if you really want to get something done, then be adamant about it, you know, be dead set on it, but also be a little flexible too, right? Aubrey, there's some room for flexibility. Sometimes when I look at budgets, I think it's kind of silly because who knows what's going to happen in a year? How can we set a budget when we just don't know, right?

Very true. And we do use these to exaggerate, right? Maybe like I'm dead set on this. Really, we just mean like, I really want this to happen. There can still be some flexibility, right? We just love to exaggerate how determined we are. Exactly. We have another episode to recommend over on All Ears English. Yeah. Yeah. And this is where this came up. It was 2325 over on All Ears English. English fluency is not a ways off.

And you said this, Lindsay, you said she's so dead set on her goal. And I immediately was like, oh, that's going to be great for the Business English podcast. We often use vocab at work to talk about how determined we are about something.

Yeah. So go over and again, this one's over on All Ears English. So open the search button, search bar and type in All Ears English. Just hit that follow button right there and we'll drop into your queue five days a week. Good stuff. Aubrey, any final thoughts here on determination? Yeah, I love this. Set goals, set resolutions, right? And then be firmly determined to reach those goals and then use this great vocab at work. I love it. All

All right. Sounds good. Aubrey, you have a good weekend and I will see you next time. You too. Awesome, Lindsay. Thanks. All right. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye.

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