Everyday English
fall by the wayside
be abandoned or forgotten
If something falls by the wayside, people stop giving it attention because other things seem more important.
Hear it in real life
Did you finish the book club reading?
No, it fell by the wayside during exam week.
My plan to learn Spanish fell by the wayside when I changed jobs.
The mistake everyone makes
Not: My plan to learn Spanish fell on the wayside when work got busy.
Say: My plan to learn Spanish fell by the wayside when work got busy.
The idiom uses the fixed phrase “by the wayside.”
Build it
How it fits in a sentence.
fall by the wayside; fell by the wayside
Your turn: say it out loud
My plan to learn Spanish fell by the wayside when I changed jobs.
Say it out loud two or three times, until it feels like yours.
fall by the wayside
be abandoned or forgotten
“My plan to learn Spanish fell by the wayside when I changed jobs.”
heytardy
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