Valerie: So, you were saying that, erm, during the construction of this café, you had to face some… tough decisions, right? About the timeline and the budget, and consider different people’s opinions about what you should do. Whose opinion influenced you the most?

Mira: Well, Giovanni’s opinion was very important. He’s a contractor and an experienced professional who’s very good at his job. But for budget issues, the opinion I really had to consider was Muza’s. He’s my accountant. After the whole mess with Steph, the electrician, and the wiring, and the mosaics… I went to his office to discuss everything.

Mira: Hello? Muza?

Muza: Oh, Mira! Hello, hello. Please come in, take a seat.

Mira: Oh thank you.

Muza: So tell me, what’s on your mind?

Mira: We need to discuss the budget and the timeline, because… well… we’ve run into some problems with the wiring. It looks like the walls will have to be opened up, and some of the mosaics will have to be removed. Initially, Giovanni wanted to delay construction by a month but, we negotiated that time down to two weeks. So this means extra work, extra delays, and extra expense. And that’s assuming it will be done in two weeks! Who knows how long it will really take.

Muza: Hmm, yes, right. I got your message and I’ve been thinking about this. I have some ideas.

Mira: Mm-hmm, ok…

Muza: Our original plan was to open the café in June, right?

Mira: Mm-hmm, right.

Muza: I mean, it’s important to start making payments to the bank, and of course you’ll need money for supplies, you’ll have to pay your employees, if there are any, and -

Mira: Yes, yes. I know. But. What if the construction isn’t done yet? What if the café isn’t ready in time? Should we open no matter what?

Conor: Hello, dear listener, and welcome back to Talking on the Job. I’m your trusty host and English language mentor, Conor, here to help you navigate the wonderful world of business and work, in English. The title of today’s episode is Weighing your Options. That’s because Mira and her accountant Muza are weighing their options, or, discussing different possibilities for moving forward with the café construction. And there are many different ways to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of an option or idea.

Conor: For today, I’ve picked out three different pairs of words that you can use for weighing your options. All of these pairs mean the same thing as advantage and disadvantage:

Number one is: "upside" and "downside". Number two, is: 'benefit" and "drawback". And finally, number three: "plus side" and "minus side". 

You can use all of these words when discussing the advantages and disadvantages of an option or idea. So. Let’s go back to Muza’s office. Pay close attention to the word pairs: upside and downside, benefit and drawback, and plus side and minus side. See if you can also notice the words that come before and after them.

Muza: Hmm. Ok. Let’s weigh our options. The upside of opening in June is that the summer season brings tourists, and the possibility for good revenue. You can start paying off your loans and establish a presence in the community.

Mira: Mm-hmm, right…

Muza: The downside of this is… I guess opening before you’re ready could make a bad first impression.

Mira: Hmm, yeah. It’s true: There are so many benefits to opening in June. Customers can really enjoy the garden patio, and of course I would like to start making money as soon as possible. But… well… There are a lot of potential drawbacks to opening too soon. Not only could I make a bad impression, as you said, but - I just really want to make sure the café is a safe and comfortable place for everyone.

Muza: Yeah right. Yes. But, there are also many factors beyond our control.

Mira: Hmm, true.

Muza: As you said, it could end up taking Giovanni and his team more than two weeks to fix the wiring. And didn’t you also say that some of the mosaics will be destroyed in the process?

Mira: Yes, that’s what Giovanni told me.

Muza: I don’t see where we can get the money to have those redone.

Mira: Yeah, me neither. On the plus side, some of the mosaic work was unsatisfactory, so I am happy to replace that with paint, or something else. But on the minus side, you’re right, that’s money wasted, and we’ll have to pay the electrician.

Muza: Yeah, exactly. We really need to keep this project on time and on budget. There’s very little room for error. I think this will require a discussion with Giovanni and his team. You’ll have to convince them, somehow, to speed up.

Mira: Ok, ok. You’re right. I’ll arrange a meeting. I’ll just have to tell everyone that we must open in June -

Conor: Did you catch that? Mira and Muza used all three word pairs in their conversation: upside and downside, benefit and drawback, and plus side and minus side. But, dear listener, I asked you to also pay close attention to the words that come before and after them. That’s because these sets of words use different prepositions. Now, you might be thinking: prepositions? I’m just trying to enjoy this podcast and hear about Mira’s café! Well, don’t worry! Prepositions are small, but mighty. Let’s go over these word pairs, and the prepositions that work with them, one at a time.

Conor: First: upside and downside. Did you notice? Muza talked about the upside and downside of opening the café in June. Then: Mira talked about the benefits and drawbacks to opening the café in June. But guess what? I’m going to make it very easy for you, because, in fact, when used in this context, both word pairs: upside/downside and benefit/drawback can be used with either preposition: of or to!

Conor: Now for the third and last word pair: Can you remember which preposition Mira used with plus side and minus side? She said on the plus side and on the minus side when talking about the advantages and disadvantages of a potential delay. So, now that you know three different ways to weigh your options, let’s go back to the grand opening, and back to Valerie’s interview with Mira.

Valerie: Oh! Interesting. Ok. So, in the end, what did you and Muza decide to do?

Mira: Well, basically, we decided to cut corners by not replacing the mosaics that were destroyed during the rewiring. That saved some money. And, well, I had to meet with Giovanni and his team to make sure that they were working quickly, but carefully.

Valerie: Ah, ok, and how did that go?

Mira: Well, it wasn’t easy. But, haha, let’s just say I did get to practice my argument skills. It’s just, Giovanni and I have slightly different priorities -

Conor: So, if you want to impress your colleagues - and yourself! - try using one of the word pairs you learned today at your workplace, or any time you need to weigh your options. Using them with the correct prepositions is a brilliant way to upgrade your English at work! If you need a reminder of what you heard, check out the transcript for this episode. There you’ll find the words we focused on today, and some more resources. The link is in the episode description. And there are plenty of benefits to writing me an email. So go ahead! I’d love to know what you think of the podcast. Send it to podcasting@babbel.com, and please don’t forget to write Talking on the Job in the subject line.

Conor: In the next episode, we’ll listen in on that conversation Mira has to have with Giovanni and his team. She said she got to practice her argument skills. This should be interesting. I’ll see you there!


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Useful phrases for weighing your options:

To talk about the advantages of an idea:
 - the upside (of/to something)
 - the benefit (of/to something)
 - on the plus side
 
 To talk about the disadvantages of an idea:
- the downside (of/to something)
- the drawback (of/to something)
- on the minus side
 
 
Key vocabulary
 
to cut corners: to do something in the fastest or cheapest way possible, even if the quality is reduced