Here's an idiom for you to try out this week in your daily speaking practice!
This phrase is great because you can almost imagine it literally, it’s like when you’re really hungry and you’re putting way too much food in your mouth so you’re unable to do it properly, even regret having done that and overestimated yourself.
It's exactly what this phrase means, it’s about deciding to do too many things or saying yes to a task or activity that you can’t have you can’t manage and therefore you regret it and potentially you do a bad job.
Again to change it for different people you simply change the subject pronoun as follows:
Bite off more than I can chew.
Bite off more than you can chew.
Bite off more than she can chew.
Bite off more than we can chew.
Bite off more than they can chew.
Most commonly it’s used in the present perfect, for example:
Pronoun + have (conjugated) + Bitten off more than we can chew.
He’s bitten off more than he can chew and is really struggling now.
I think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew and we’re not going to get this project finished on time.
It can also be used as a piece of advice, for example:
Know your limits and don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Let’s have a look at some examples.
I’ve got so much work to do before the end of the day, I’ve definitely bitten off more than I can chew.
Well they’ve bitten off more than they can chew and taking this project on without thinking about the logistics.
He always says yes to the boss and I think this time he’s bitten off more than he can chew.
This phrase isn't particularly formal or informal, You could pretty much use it in lots of different scenarios, among friends or colleagues, but like with most idioms it can be quite colloquial so maybe not in a very formal situation but in the workplace is OK.
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