English Lesson # 142 – To put something on the back burner (Idiom) – Learn English Pronunciation, Vocabulary & Phrases
In this English vocabulary lesson you will learn how to use the idiom ‘To put something on the back burner’ There are times where all of a sudden you have a new priority that demands your immediate attention. To do full justice, you drop all your other work and start attending to the new task. This is because the other tasks can wait and you needn’t rush with them. The idiom ‘to put something on the back burner’ basically means to put aside something for the time being as it is not important for now. If you defer a task to a future date, you do it because it is not of top priority as there are things that have to be attended to.
If something is put on the back burner, it is temporarily not being dealt with or considered, especially because it is not urgent or important at the moment. In short, when you have put something on the back burner, you have decided not to address it or do it in the present. As it is not important now, you will attend to it later. It is more of a demanding situation than a personal choice that makes you put something on a back burner.
In this idiom, ‘put’ is the verb as it shows the action of setting aside something. The verb ‘put’ does not change its form in the past and past participle, it remains the same.
Example Sentences for practice :
Example 01: To meet the deadlines of the new project, Harry focused on it and put all his other work on the back burner.
Example 02: Mother put all her house work on the back burner to take care of her daughter as she was ill.
Example 03: After her engagement, Rachael put all her responsibilities on the back burner and started shopping for her wedding that was to happen soon.
Example 04: To get selected in the school soccer team, William put his studies on the back burner and started practicing.
Example 05: At the meeting, the directors of the company debated about putting the plans for the new factory on the back burner until the improvement in the economy.
Example 06: To ensure safety of the passengers, all the airlines’ schedules were put on the back burner due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Example 07: Fascinated with her new pet at home, Samantha put all her outing plans on the back burner.
Example 08: For immediate interrogation of the latest murder case, the CBI agent put all the smaller cases on the back burner.
Example 09: When there was a sudden fire in the building, all the people put whatever they were doing on the back burner and ran out to save their lives.