Skip to main content

Mavpli

Your MockMaple practice companion

Menu

Vocabulary · Topic vocabulary

Work vocabulary: deadlines, feedback and polite requests

Practise eight workplace expressions with meaning contrasts, a complete conversation and usage checks.

By MockMaple · Updated

Try the prompt

Read the conversation between colleagues. Notice how they discuss a delay without treating a request as an approved change.

  • The examples describe an invented workplace.
  • Choose words for accuracy and audience, not because they sound impressive.

Plan your approach

  1. Identify the problem and the requested action.
  2. Compare the expressions below with their alternatives.
  3. Rewrite one sentence for a more formal audience.

Read the complete conversation

Nora: Could we clarify the deadline for the customer guide? I can finish the draft by Thursday, but I need feedback before I send it out. Ben: The final version is due on Friday. Please send me the draft on Thursday morning so I have time to review it. Nora: That works. One section depends on information from the support team. If it arrives late, could we extend the deadline for that section only? Ben: Possibly, but I need to check with the project lead. For now, prioritise the sections you can complete. Give me a heads-up if the missing information puts Friday at risk. Nora: I will follow up with support today. Just to confirm, Thursday is the draft deadline, and a Friday extension has not been approved. Ben: Exactly. Let us keep each other in the loop as the situation changes.

Why these choices work

A response or interpretation to improve

I will delay the deadline myself. Give me feedbacks, and keep me inside the loop.

Use the right collocations

Ask to extend a deadline and ask for feedback. Feedback is normally uncountable in this use, so “feedbacks” is not the natural form.

Match register and authority

Heads-up and in the loop suit a friendly workplace conversation. In a formal email, “advance notice” and “keep me informed” may fit better. Neither wording turns a request into approval.

Vocabulary in context

deadline

The latest time for completing something.

The final deadline is Friday.

Choose the right alternative: A schedule is a plan of activities; a deadline is an endpoint.

Usage note: Meet or miss a deadline. An agreed extension changes the deadline; simply being late does not.

draft

A version that is still open to revision.

Please review my first draft.

Choose the right alternative: Final version implies intended completion; draft signals further changes may follow.

Usage note: Draft can be a noun or verb: draft an email.

feedback

Comments intended to help evaluate or improve work.

Could you give me feedback on the introduction?

Choose the right alternative: Criticism can focus on faults; feedback can include strengths and suggestions.

Usage note: Usually uncountable: some feedback or a piece of feedback.

clarify

Make a meaning or requirement clearer.

Could you clarify which version is due?

Choose the right alternative: Confirm checks an understanding; clarify resolves unclear meaning.

Usage note: Clarify the requirement, not clarify about the requirement.

prioritise

Decide what deserves attention first.

Prioritise the sections with complete information.

Choose the right alternative: Finish describes completion; prioritise describes the order of attention.

Usage note: Prioritise does not promise everything will be completed.

follow up

Take a further action after earlier contact.

I will follow up with support tomorrow.

Choose the right alternative: Remind draws attention to something already known; follow up can also seek an update.

Usage note: Verb: follow up. Noun or adjective: a follow-up email.

give someone a heads-up

Give informal advance notice.

Give me a heads-up if the draft will be late.

Choose the right alternative: Notify is more formal and neutral.

Usage note: Informal; avoid forcing this idiom into a highly formal complaint.

keep someone in the loop

Keep someone informed as a situation develops.

Please keep me in the loop about the schedule.

Choose the right alternative: Copy someone on an email is one possible action, not the full meaning.

Usage note: Use in the loop, not inside the loop in this idiom.

Explore vocabulary, synonyms and idioms

Check your understanding

Choose an answer to see the evidence and an explanation for every option. These checks are not a proficiency score.

1. Has the Friday deadline been extended?
2. Which phrase is the more formal alternative to “give me a heads-up”?
All answers and explanations

Has the Friday deadline been extended?

Answer: No, approval is still pending

Evidence: a Friday extension has not been approved.

  • Yes, Nora changed it: Nora asks rather than decides.
  • No, approval is still pending: Ben still needs to check with the project lead.
  • Yes, the support team approved it: Support supplies information, not approval.

Which phrase is the more formal alternative to “give me a heads-up”?

Answer: Give me advance notice

Evidence: Give me a heads-up if the missing information puts Friday at risk.

  • Give me advance notice: It preserves the meaning of advance warning.
  • Put me inside the loop: This is not the natural form of the idiom.
  • Give me feedbacks: Feedbacks is not natural in this use and changes the meaning.

Try a new situation

Write a short email asking for feedback before a deadline. Use three expressions accurately, then replace one informal expression with a formal alternative.

Use your own notes or voice recorder, then check your work:

  • Have you kept draft and final deadlines distinct?
  • Is feedback used as an uncountable noun?
  • Did you make clear which change still needs approval?
Apply this in free practice

Keep learning

Browse all four skills