14-Aug-2025

Greetings from Fluent & Fearless,

If you’ve ever sat in a meeting thinking, “I almost understood that… but not quite,” this issue is for you. We’re breaking down two powerful phrasal verbs that can make your professional English sound sharper, smoother, and more confident.

ESL Word/Phrase of the Week

English Phrases: “Follow up” and “Follow through.”

Meaning: When you follow up, you check in on something after it’s started or been discussed. When you follow through, you finish what you promised to do.

Example Sentences:

• “I’ll follow up with the client tomorrow to confirm the meeting.”

• “She said she’d help with the report, but she has yet to follow through.”

Quick Tip:
Think of follow up as “circle back” to something and follow through as “see it to the end.”

• “I’ll follow up with the client tomorrow to confirm the meeting.” → “Voy a dar seguimiento con el cliente mañana para confirmar la reunión”.

• “She said she’d help with the report, but she has yet to follow through.” → “Ella dijo que ayudaría con el informe, pero aún no lo ha cumplido”.

Highlighted Language Mistake of the Week

Mistake: ❌ “I will follow with him tomorrow.”
Correct: ✅ “I will follow up with him tomorrow.”

Why?
Without up, the meaning changes — “follow” alone usually means to physically go after someone or to follow their social media.

Examples:

• ✅ “Please follow up with the supplier to get their latest prices.”

• ❌ “Please follow the supplier to get their latest prices.”

How to Fix It:
Imagine “follow” as chasing someone but losing them, while “follow up” is catching up and actually talking to them — the “up” is what gets you to the conversation.

Punctuation Tip of the Week

Spotlight: Parentheses ( )

What is it?
Parentheses (these little curved marks) let you add extra information without breaking the main sentence flow.

Examples:

• “I’ll be in New York next week (Monday through Thursday) for work.”

• “We are open every day (except Sundays) for walk-ins.”

Quick Tip:
If the part inside parentheses is a full sentence, capitalize the first letter and put the period inside.

Featured Story of the Week

Grammar Whispers, Reliability Roars

When it comes to building trust in a professional setting, your reputation doesn’t grow because you speak perfect English — it grows because you do what you say you’ll do.

I once worked with a project manager named Mariana, whose English was far from flawless. She mixed up tenses, occasionally used the wrong prepositions, and paused mid-sentence to search for the right word. But she had one quality that made everyone respect her: she always followed up and followed through.

If she promised an update on a project, it came. If she said she’d check on a detail, you would hear from her within 24 hours. She didn’t try to “sound” fluent to impress people; she focused on being dependable, consistent, and reliable. And as a result, her language mistakes became almost invisible to her colleagues — because her actions spoke louder than her grammar.

I remember one meeting vividly: the team was debating a tight deadline, and everyone was worried about whether the client would accept the timeline. Mariana calmly took notes, clarified action items, and promised to follow up with each team member individually. A few days later, she sent personalized emails checking on progress and offering support. The project moved forward smoothly — not because she spoke flawlessly, but because everyone trusted she would follow through on her promises.

This is a powerful lesson for semi-bilingual professionals: clarity and consistency beat linguistic perfection. A polished sentence is nice, but a delivered promise is gold. When you follow up, you show that you care about outcomes. When you follow through, you prove you can be trusted with responsibility. Over time, colleagues start to see you not as “the person still learning English,” but as “the professional who gets things done.”

Next time you’re in a meeting, don’t just focus on taking good notes in English. Identify the key actions you need to follow up on — and make sure you follow through. Over time, these small, deliberate steps will build trust, credibility, and confidence.

Remember: language mistakes fade, but reliability lasts.

In the long run, being the person who follows up and follows through will make you indispensable.

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Cultural Corner – Idiom/Slang of the Week

Idiom: “Put your money where your mouth is.”

Meaning: In English, saying “I will” is free and easy — but acting on it can cost time, energy, or even actual money. That’s where the idiom “put your money where your mouth is” comes in. It’s used when someone needs to back up their words with action.

Example:

• “You said you were all in on this project — Put your money where your mouth is!”

Spanish Equivalent: “Haz que tus hechos hablen”.

Ejemplo:
• “No basta con prometer que mejorarás las ventas; haz que tus hechos hablen con resultados concretos”.

Note: Both are close cousins of “follow through,” but with a hint of challenge — like when your boss says, “If you think you can do better, put your money where your mouth is.” In other words: prove it.

Reader Poll / Puzzle / Comment

Brain Teaser:
Here’s a word puzzle to test your follow up / follow through instincts:

You’ve got five promises from coworkers. Which ones require a “follow up” and which ones require a “follow through”?

1. “I’ll call the supplier and let you know their answer.”

2. “I’ll double-check the budget and send you the updated numbers.”

3. “I’ll be the one to submit the final proposal to the client.”

4. “I’ll remind you next week about the meeting.”

5. “I’ll finish the report we started last month.”

Hint: Think about whether the action is about checking in or finishing something.

Extra Playful Twist: Try inventing your own “mixed cases” — promises that start as a follow-up but end as a follow-through. (Example: You follow up on a missing file, but in the process, you end up finishing the file yourself.)