Spanner in the works, prune back
Hi,
1) I know that you say ‘throw a spanner in the works’ in British English, but could I replace ‘the works’ with ‘plans’?
“He gave us the instructions too late which threw a spanner in our plans.”
2)
“They had to grind down/ prune back the content of the course to make it more manageable.”
The school had to take out a few topics that used to be covered in the course and they reduced the number of assignments as well.
If that was the case, could ‘prune back’ or ‘grind down’ be used?
Thank you.
Top answer
You really can't change a fixed expression like this. Unless you are trying to make a little joke! 2) Grind down is wrong.
- You really can't change a fixed expression like this.
- Unless you are trying to make a little joke!
- 2) Grind down is wrong.
- Prune or prune back are possible, I suppose, although not great.
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1) No.You really can't change a fixed expression like this. Unless you are trying to make a little joke!
2) Grind down is wrong. Prune or prune back are possible, I suppose, although not great.
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