Unit 7

backing for a person or a proposal is support from

someone in a position of authority

Collocates: financial backing

with his backing, the project managed to get extra

funding | the scheme has European backing | he has the

unanimous backing of his party | the company received

strong financial backing | unfortunately, our main

sponsor withdrew his backing before we could finish

the project

Verb: back

the government has refused to back the scheme

if you devise something, you invent something new, or

think of a plan for doing something

scientists have devised a way of predicting earthquakes

| he has devised a number of vocabulary tests | we

devised a plan to keep the hospital open at weekends

| engineers devised a way of replacing the broken

mechanism | students are encouraged to devise their

own research methods

Phrase

if you say that something is the thin end of the wedge,

you mean that although it is not seriously bad at the

moment, it will certainly lead to a situation becoming

much worse

to me, this experiment represents the thin end of the

wedge | closing the canteen in the evening is the thin

end of the wedge – they’ll shut it permanently next

Verb

if you undertake a task, project, job, etc., you agree that

you should do it and you start to do it

researchers undertook the survey to see if there was a

link between attitudes and health | the new government

undertook a programme of economic rebuilding | he

gladly undertook the task of interviewing the candidates

for the job | you’ll need to undertake further training if

you want to get ahead in your career

Noun: undertaking

building the railway during the winter was an ambitious

undertaking | think before you buy a very old house – it

can be a very expensive undertaking

Noun

an arms race is a situation where two countries are each

trying to build more weapons than the other

the arms race was accelerating at the time | nobody

believes the arms race will bring lasting peace | talks

were held to try and slow down the arms race | both

companies are in a technological arms race (each

company is trying to get better technology than the

other)

Verb

if people are plugged into something useful, they know

about it and connect with it so that they can benefit from it

the planet is a living network that the natives plug into

through fibre-optic cables | several local businesses

are already plugged into the scheme | how can we help

those people who aren’t plugged into the community?

Verb

if something rouses you, or if you are roused, you are

made to feel a strong emotion, often with the result that

you feel very strongly that you have to take action about

something

Collocates: rouse someone to/into (doing) something

fear roused them into action again | the speech roused

our spirit of cooperation | he roused himself for a final

effort | she was roused to anger by what she saw

Phrase

if you send someone packing, you tell them very firmly

to go away or force them to go away

the invaders were sent packing | he knew she’d send

him packing if she found out what he’d done | after

a bad-tempered election campaign, voters sent him

packing

Noun

a strand is one of several parts that make up an idea,

plan, or story

the ending leaves a number of plot strands hanging |

other cities didn’t take up the other strands of Bilbao’s

regeneration project | there were two different strands

to his argument | this is an important strand in current

philosophical thinking

Verb

if you contract an illness, you start to have it

there are four common ways of contracting the disease |

at least 20 people in the city contracted AIDS last year

Verb

if a number or quantity leaps, it suddenly gets much bigger

the number of injuries leapt suddenly | inflation leapt

to 20%

Noun: leap

the cost of petrol has taken a big leap | there’s been

another leap in unemployment

Noun uncount

scrutiny is careful examination and consideration of

something. If something does not stand up to scrutiny,

faults become apparent when you examine it carefully

the figures don’t stand up to scrutiny | borrowers are

facing increased scrutiny from the banks | their intention

was to avoid public scrutiny | none of their claims

survived scrutiny (they all turned out to be false)

Verb: scrutinise

the company figures were scrutinised by two

independent accountants | all the details of the land

purchase were closely scrutinised

Noun

if you have a vested interest in something, you want it

to happen or succeed because you will get a benefit or

advantage from it. Vested interests are people or groups

who will benefit from a particular situation

Collocates: a vested interest in (doing) something

the government has a vested interest in removing

people from the unemployment figures | they have a

vested interest in making sure all the students pass the

exam | vested interests are eager for the war to continue

so they can sell more weapons | the proposal was

withdrawn following opposition from powerful vested

interests