Learn English Phrases – Set the record straight / Have a great track record

 

Everyday English Speaking Course
Hello students, this is Shayna from EspressoEnglish.net, and today I’ve got two phrases for you.

The first one is “set the record straight.” This means to correct a mistaken fact, or impression, or belief that other people have.

Let me give you an example. Let’s say you’re working on a project at work together with your coworker Diane. During this project, Diane comes up with a really great idea, and you present this idea to your supervisor. Your supervisor loves the idea, but, unfortunately, he mistakenly thinks it was your idea instead of Diane’s, and he tells other people in the company about it. Other coworkers begin to congratulate you on your great idea.

But then you can say “Just a minute, let me set the record straight. This idea was Diane’s, not mine.” So, that would be an example of “set the record straight”; correcting a mistaken fact or mistaken belief that other people have.

Another expression with the word record is “have a great track record.” If a person or company “has a great track record”, it means they have a history of accomplishments and success.

For example, if you’re considering hiring a consultant to help grow your company, and you look at this consultants history, and you see that she has helped a lot of companies grow in the past, you could say “She has a great track record when it comes to helping companies grow.”

Now, it’s also possible to have the opposite, a terrible track record. This would mean a history of failures and bad work. For example, if there is a telephone company that’s known for its bad customer service. When you call this company, it takes a very long time to get any help, and the people there just aren’t very helpful. You could say the company “has a terrible track record” when it comes to customer service.

So those are the two phrases for today: “set the record straight,” meaning to correct a mistaken fact or belief that other people have; and “have a great track record” or “have a terrible track record,” referring to someone’s past history of successes and good work, or failures and bad work.

Thanks for joining me for the phrase of the day, and I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow to learn more spoken English phrases and expressions.