This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 80.
Catch a glimpse of this Business English vocabulary.
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Hello, Aubrey. How's it going today? I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you? I'm feeling very solid today.
Excited to be on the mic on Business English.
I love our podcast. Oh, I like saying I feel solid.
That's a really fun way to respond instead of like, I'm fine.
I feel good. I feel really solid today. I love that.
Solid. Nice. Nice. What are we getting into on this episode, Aubrey?
Good topic today. Yes, we got a really good question from a listener.
And this is really interesting about vocabulary that's very similar.
So it's almost hard to tell the difference and how do we use which one, the words glimpse and glance.
So we're going to dive into this today and clarify it for you guys.
Yes, I didn't get a chance to take a glance or glands at our episode notes today.
So you're gonna have to fill us in a little bit more here, Aubrey, on the specifics of this episode.
That was awkward. Way to use it there in that book.
I haven't had a chance to glance at the notes.
So help us out here. I love it. Okay, Lindsay, let's dive straight into this question.
You want to read it for us? Yes, here we go.
So hello, Lindsay. This is Abdur Rahman writing from Uzbekistan.
Nice. Love it that we have listeners all over the world, Aubrey.
This is fantastic. Okay, so I'm one of your fans who listens to your podcast on a daily basis when I'm doing some housework or going somewhere.
I find your podcast energetic and helpful.
I've recently found out about two verbs which have a very similar meaning to each other.
They are glimpse and glance, and I found it confusing to use them.
My question is this. Can you explain the difference between them with some examples?
In what context can I use these two verbs?
There must be a nuance between them. Thanks for your answer in advance.
Take care. Adieu, Roman. And we're going to apply this to the business world today, right, Aubrey?
Exactly. Because I use these all the time at work.
I hear these all the time. We have great examples for how you can use them in business English.
These verbs are, right, they're commonly used and there is sort of a subtle nuance, but one of them we're actually going to recommend you not use.
I don't know, we'll get into this, Lindsay, but yeah, these are very common in business English.
Yeah, there's also something very businessy about using elevated vocabulary, I think.
So if I'm in my daily life, I'm not necessarily going to take the time to come up with a more pinpointed word like glimpse or glance.
I'm going to say, take a look. Exactly. Right.
But because I maybe want to connect with my colleagues and present a professional vocabulary, I might choose a more specific word.
So that's why this is clearly a business English topic today, Aubrey.
Yes, that's such a good point, right? I would just be like, can you take a look at this if I were home?
Whereas at work, I'm wanting to impress a little more with my vocabulary.
I'm definitely more likely to use one of these or the idiom we're going to teach you with one of these words.
Yeah, because to be honest, good vocabulary can go a very long way in your career.
You know what I mean? It can help you move through the ranks.
It makes you sound high level and sophisticated and qualified in your career.
So guys, write these down today. Write down the difference today.
Love it. Yes, we want to impress, right?
And these verbs will impress. They're just a little less common, a little more fancy sounding, like you said.
So yes, we want to show you how to use them.
Okay. Let's dive in first with glance. What does this mean, Lindsay?
So this is to take a brief or a hurried look.
So we usually use this with the preposition at, right?
Exactly. So glance at something. Yeah. For example, I've only had a chance to glance at the report.
Can you fill me in on the details? And we often, it's often follows had a chance to or was able to, right? right?
We rarely will say like, I glanced at the report.
We often are almost softening it with, Ooh, I only had a chance.
I was only able to glance at this. Yeah, we do use that little phrase a lot, have a chance to, right?
I didn't have a chance to do it. Here's another example.
Can everyone glance at the agenda before we get started?
So here I'm not asking people to study it, right?
I'm asking them to glance, quickly look at something, right?
Yes. And we would, I think, be more likely even to say, can everyone take a glance at the agenda, right?
This is a native chunk that we use so often in present tense.
So learn this as a chunk. Can everybody take a glance at the agenda?
Yeah. Ooh, this is tricky. When I think about these two verbs, they feel similar to me, but let's see what the difference is.
Yeah. So here's what's interesting, right?
Glimpse. You will see this in the dictionary as a verb with a similar meaning, just a brief or hurried look, but I almost never hear it.
This is the one I'm going to recommend. I'm asking you if it's the same for you, Lindsay, but for example, someone would say like He glimpsed the train as it flew by.
You're going to see it in books, maybe hear it.
But I feel like in day to day speech, even in business English, I wouldn't say this and I rarely hear it.
Yeah. So I agree. It feels it might be a little old fashioned.
Yeah. glimpsed the train right without something before it I think so you know you said catch it or catch a glimpse could be yeah this I think right this is sort of an idiomatic phrase that we do use right did you catch a glimpse of that or I caught a glimpse of this which means to see something briefly so a little bit more of a different meaning right means you see something very briefly Yeah.
And the one I would add to that here just spontaneously, Aubrey, is get a glimpse.
Did you get a glimpse of that Hollywood star when you went to the Oscars and you stood on the side of the red carpet?
Did you get a glimpse of whoever? Exactly.
Right. So it's so interesting how we do use it as a noun in this sort of idiomatic.
You're not literally catching anything. It means to to see something quickly, to catch a glimpse or get a glimpse.
And we do use this in business English, I might say.
Did you catch a glimpse of the quarterly report before the meeting?
Yeah, there's something about in business being more precise, but also being a little less direct at the same time by using fancier words.
Do you think so? Yes, I agree. Right. So it's we like to be less direct.
You know, it sort of depends on a person's personality.
But I do like to be less direct. And I think that's why one of these just sounds more natural to us.
We just hear it more often because we're a little more informal.
We're a little more direct a lot of the time.
Yeah, indirect. It's also just nice to have more vocabulary options, have just more words that you could choose from.
It gives you a sense of confidence, guys.
And we want you to have that confidence at work.
Right, Aubrey? Exactly. It gives you almost like an arsenal, right?
So here's another example. You might say, I caught a glimpse of your presentation before I had to leave and it looked like it was going well.
I would never say, and I don't feel like I hear, I glimpsed your presentation before I had to leave.
No, but definitely I caught a glimpse of it.
Right. And just to reemphasize, to make sure our listeners are totally getting this, what would be the difference if I said I watched your presentation before I had to leave and it looked like it was going well?
So I think you, yeah, it is totally different, right?
First of all, less impressive, less, you know, more common vocabulary.
And this caught a glimpse. It's almost more, like you said, it's just more indirect, more you're really emphasizing like, oh, I only saw a little bit.
I just saw it very briefly. It's sort of emphasizing that.
I watched sounds like I was able to sit and watch quite a bit of it.
Right. I'm envisioning someone like leaving the office, walking past the door where the person's giving the presentation and they just kind of caught a glimpse. right exactly see it briefly as you walk past right I caught a glimpse of Maria so I guess she's not sick anymore glad she's here today you just saw her very briefly I love it and I just want just to compare and contrast I'm not sure if we said this before but when I think about glance I think a little bit more about eye movement like glance that way like a physical movement of the eyes do you think about that as opposed to glimpse just to look at something quickly Definitely.
We use glance more synonymously with look, right?
I glanced at that. Can you take a glance at this?
You could replace with look. Can you take a look at this?
I looked at that for sure. Whereas catch a glimpse does have a different meaning.
It means that you see something briefly, not that you looked at it.
There is a subtle difference there. It is really subtle though, isn't it Aubrey?
Wow. Okay. See details online. Okay, Aubrey, let's get deeper into this and really help if any of our listeners are maybe confused.
We're going to clarify this in a good role play.
What do you think? Yes, let's do it. Okay, so in this role play, we are discussing who to assign to a project at work.
All right, here we go. So are you clear on the roles we're filling?
I only had a chance to glance at the email, so hopefully you're up to speed.
Okay, the first one is team lead. I caught a glimpse of Mary's sales demo this morning and I was extremely impressed.
Maybe she'd be a good fit for this role?
Great idea. She's an excellent communicator.
Let's take a glance at her sales numbers.
Oh yeah, I glanced at them before the meeting and they're amazing.
Nice. Oh, I just caught a glimpse of a catering tray being delivered.
Hopefully that's for us. I'm starving. Wow.
This is a high level episode. Really high level.
This is good. Okay. Let's break it down, Aubrey.
What did I say first or who used the first word?
Yeah, so I said it first with, I only had a chance to glance at the email.
So hopefully you're up to speed. I love that this is really in this role play showing this is the best option here and the one I would be most likely to use, right?
Because if I'm saying, oh, I only quickly looked at the email, there's so many things I would say that just sort of make me sound unprepared.
Whereas a chance to glance, because I think it's elevated vocabulary, I don't think it gives that impression. you OK, so you're saying that just saying I looked at the email would have been just kind of plain, right?
Kind of plain, not unprofessional. It is OK, guys.
And again, always come back to connection, not perfection in the workplace, too.
So if the only thing you can come up with in that moment is, you know, look at or took a look at or saw, that is totally OK.
Right. That's the important thing to emphasize here.
But if we want to up level our careers, this is what we do.
We go for the higher words. Absolutely.
Right now that you have this vocabulary and it helps us have variety.
If you've already said in a sentence or in what you're saying that you looked at something, then you have this other option to to not be repetitive with your vocabulary as well.
Variety is huge, especially, you know, in the corporate world, after lunch when people are sleepy, you don't want to wake them up.
Wake them up with some interesting vocab.
All right. So then what did I say? Okay.
The first one is team lead. I caught a glimpse of Mary Sales demo this morning.
Okay. So why did I say glimpse instead of glance there?
Yeah. So because it's a sales demo, this is going to be like a video, maybe something over Zoom.
We wouldn't say I glanced at that where it's a really good point because you wouldn't say you looked at a video and glance is more synonymous with look.
Right. So that's why I would say I caught a glimpse.
I saw it briefly. Right. And this is kind of why I was saying earlier, I think I feel like glance means to me like a movement, like I actively move towards that thing or move my eyes towards it.
But because it's an active demo moving itself, I'm not going to glance at it.
It's moving. I'm watching it move. Does that make sense?
Exactly. Awesome. And then I said, let's take a glance at her sales numbers because yeah, we would say, let's look at her sales numbers.
How much more interesting is this? I love it.
You're elevating. Let's take a glance at her sales numbers.
Yeah. I love the idea of adding a verb there.
Okay. To mix it up. And I said, oh yeah, I glanced at them before.
Now, why did I, obviously I'm not repeating.
I took a glance because that's boring. Then we're now repeating take a Twice.
Right. Switching it up a little bit here.
There are options, right? You could say, I caught a glimpse of them before the meeting.
I looked at them briefly. There are certainly options, but this is where without the take a glance.
Yeah. You wouldn't want to repeat that phrase exactly, but you can just say, I glanced at them before the meeting.
You're letting me know, oh, we don't need to look at them.
I glanced at them quickly before the meeting.
Yes. I love it. And then the final one is, oh, I just caught a glimpse of a catering tray being delivered.
So that means, so that catering tray is moving itself, right?
It's moving. Someone's moving it down the hallway.
Yes. I can imagine we were in a conference room and through the door or maybe through the window, I see a catering tray wheeled by.
And this is a perfect opportunity for this more idiomatic way to say this.
I caught a glimpse of it. I just saw it quickly as it went by.
Yeah, glimpse. And I think, you know, I think broadly speaking, I feel like glimpse is a little bit more of less control over something.
Like maybe it's happening quickly and you can barely catch it.
Right. Whereas glance like you move and you are taking the action and having the control over seeing the thing.
Would you agree with that? Good point. And I love differentiating it from watched to watch, right?
I wouldn't say I watched the catering tray be wheeled by, that would just be strange.
It's like, we're in a meeting. Why are you watching the catering tray?
But if I say I caught a glimpse, that means I'm focused on what we're doing, but I just caught, I saw very briefly this other thing that happened, right?
Exactly. I wonder what's for lunch. Hopefully it's good.
A little distracted by my, my hunger. Yeah.
All right. So this is pretty subtle, but when we break it down to the idea of control and what we've shared today, guys, it does help to break it down.
What's our takeaway today, Aubrey? Yeah, I think you're exactly right.
It can be confusing with verbs like glance and glimpse.
I think it really does help to know what is used commonly, especially in business English, right?
We don't really use glimpse as a verb. So I think that's super helpful to know.
Now that you have all these details about this vocab, you can use it to elevate your vocabulary at work.
Yeah, words are powerful in the business world, guys.
So uplevel your words and just go for it.
I love it. So good. So good, Aubrey. Thanks for hanging out on the podcast today.
And guys, if you love to learn high level vocab, but want to really understand why we're learning, which is connection in the end, connection, not perfection, hit follow on Allers English so you don't miss a single episode.
Awesome. Thanks, Lindsay. I will see you next time.
All right. Very good. Talk soon. Bye. Bye.
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