keep your ear to the ground

Meaning

To pay close attention to what is happening around you, especially to spot early trends, rumors, or changes in an industry or organization. It is commonly used in business to encourage proactive networking and informal research.

Examples

• Make sure to keep your ear to the ground for any rumors about upcoming layoffs.

  Make sure to keep your ear to the ground for any rumors about upcoming layoffs.

• Our sales team needs to keep their ears to the ground to find out what competitors are planning.

  Our sales team needs to keep their ears to the ground to find out what competitors are planning.

• I've been keeping my ear to the ground, and it sounds like they are looking for a new director.

  I've been keeping my ear to the ground, and it sounds like they are looking for a new director.

• To succeed in tech, you have to keep your ear to the ground for emerging framework trends.

  To succeed in tech, you have to keep your ear to the ground for emerging framework trends.

• She kept her ear to the ground and managed to pitch her services just as the company started expanding.

  She kept her ear to the ground and managed to pitch her services just as the company started expanding.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ You should put your ear on the ground to hear the news.

  ✓ You should keep your ear to the ground.

  Idioms have fixed structures. The correct preposition is 'to' and the verb is typically 'keep' or 'have'.

• ✗ I kept my ear to the ground to listen to his speech.

  ✓ I kept my ear to the ground to find out what people thought of his speech.

  This idiom is about gathering rumors, trends, and informal information, not literally listening to a direct presentation or speech.

Related Expressions

Practice

• If you want to know about job openings before they are posted, you need to ___.

  💡 An idiom about staying informed of rumors and trends.

  Show answer

  keep your ear to the ground

• Our marketing department always ___ to catch new social media trends early.

  💡 Remember to conjugate the verb 'keep' for the singular subject.

  Show answer

  keeps its ear to the ground