Come full circle

To come full circle is to end up where you began

Today's story: Zoom in the office
Explore more: Lesson #605
Keywords:

Be your best self in English

Move confidently through the English-speaking world

Listen

  • Learning speed
  • Full speed

Learn

TranscriptQuizPractice writing (6)
Simple TranscriptEspañol中文FrançaisPortuguês日本語ItalianoDeutschTürkçePolski

Come full circle

At the very beginning of today’s story, I said, “Now we’re coming full circle: Zoom is calling its employees back to the office .”

So what do I mean by “come full circle?” I mean, we’re back to where we started . It implies closure or completion . A cycle or a circle has been completed, especially after a long time .

In today’s story, I talked about how Zoom—remember Zoom? They’re the company that promised us a fully remote working world, never going back to the office again—yeah, that Zoom is calling its own employees back to the office . No more fully remote work even for the employees of the tool that makes remote work possible.

So if Zoom is now going back to the office, then it seems like we’re back to where we started. Now I was exaggerating a little bit . Because as you did hear in the story, Zoom and many companies will preserve some kind of hybrid work arrangement , that lets employees work remotely some of the time.

It’s common to use this phrase when you’re talking about a person who has had a lot of life experiences but returns to a place from an earlier part of his or her life . I saw an article about a restaurateur , an entrepreneur who opened a restaurant in the Seaport neighborhood of Boston. She said it was like coming full circle because her first job in hospitality was in that neighborhood. Since that job, she had left the neighborhood, left the city, had a career—but now she’s back in the same neighborhood where she started . She feels like she has come full circle.

The actor Josh Hartnett starred in “Pearl Harbor,” a movie about World War II. That was twenty-two years ago, in 2001. Now, some people are saying he has come full circle. That’s because he recently starred in “Oppenheimer,” another movie about World War II. He had a role in a war movie a long time ago; he had a career in other types of movies, now he’s back in another war movie.

A musician that returns to his roots , returns to playing the music he started his career with—that’s another time you can use “come full circle.” Bob Dylan is a good example of that. He was known for playing his acoustic guitar and harmonica . Then, he decided to try becoming more of a rock musician, and he transitioned to playing an electric guitar . But to his fans’ delight , he came full circle in the 1990s and returned to his roots, playing acoustic guitar on a new album. He came full circle because he returned the style he had started with.

See you next time!

And that’s just about it, that is it, for Plain English lesson number 605. Some of you might be listening on your commutes back into an office, after working at home for a while. I was wondering, in the pandemic, if people would still listen to Plain English. Because I knew the most popular time to listen was in the car, on the bus, or on the train on the way to work.

But you guys stuck in there , and congratulations for all the great work you do in English. Now, if you are of a mind to help out , you can do one small thing for me. I just checked on Spotify. This program has a 4.9 rating out of five—not out of ten, out of five. Four-point-nine out of five, that’s pretty good. And 529 people have rated it—so this is good.

But listen. I know how many people listen on Spotify. It’s more than 529. Like, multiply that by 50 and we’re getting close. So that means a lot of you Spotify listeners have not yet given us a rating.

It’s really easy to do on your phone. Just go to the home page of the show. Find the rating, it’s like in the middle of the screen on the left. And just leave a truthful rating. It can be a 2! It can be whatever you honestly think. But just add your opinion so that others can find us on Spotify.

And if you listen on another platform, that’s okay, too—if it allows ratings or reviews, you can leave us one and we’ll be grateful.

Learn to express your best ideas

Get the tools you need to speak more fluently in English

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

We speak your language

Learn English words faster with instant, built-in translations of key words into your language

Free trial

Test your knowledge

Take a 4-question quiz to make sure you understand today’s Expression

Improve your English writing

Write a sentence using this expression and get personal, human feedback to help you improve

test content

[/mepr-rules]
Story: Zoom in the office