<B>The British Council?s language clinic with ?Dr Danny?</B>

Hello and welcome again to the English Language Clinic. This week I have been asked to explain the idiom ?time is money?. This idiom is used to express the opinion that time is valuable, like money. It is often used to express irritation or annoyance caused by unnecessary delays or inefficient working practices. For example, Matthew, a busy businessman was late for an important mee-ting. He sat in his chauffeur-driven car, in a long traffic jam, tapping his watch, saying ?time is money!? There are a large number of idioms, which describe time in the same ways that we use to describe money. You can ?run out of?, ?save?, ?waste?, ?spend?, ?value? or ?spare? time.

Let?s return to Matthew for some more time- related idioms: The chauffeur realised it was ?crunch time?; Matthew was a ?big time? executive and he did not want to disappoint him. On the ?spur of the moment?, he swerved the car out of the traffic, onto a side street. He drove ?like there was no tomorrow? as he knew they had ?no time to spare?. Everything was ?going like clockwork?, ?for the time being? at least. They were ?making good time? and Matthew was pleased. ?I thought you were ?small time?, but you really ?have your moments?. I think we might even be ?ahead of time??, he said to the driver. But then there was a loud bang and the car slowly rolled to a stop. The driver thought his ?time had come? and waited for Matthew to fire him. But Matthew was looking out the window at his office. They had reached the meeting at ?the eleventh hour?? ?Better late than never?, said Matthew the busy business man.

Please send your comments, queries and questions to ?Dr Danny? by emailing the following address [email protected]