He can only work to prepare the ground and let the change happen of itself or not at all.

"We felt it important to prepare the ground by getting the business case out now."

Perhaps this was a good time to prepare the ground.

Begin by preparing the ground as for any garden bed.

The great thing is to prepare the ground for tomorrow.

Only prepare the ground that you're going to plant up.

This is not only a matter of preparing the ground for more nuclear power.

All this little stuff was only meant to prepare the ground.

But the time had arrived to prepare the ground for his later activity.

"This will prepare the ground for the larger car companies."

But he can lay the groundwork for the work he'll do later.

I think the next year is going to lay the groundwork for the future.

"They can help lay the groundwork for other major cultural changes."

The goal is to lay the groundwork for international policy to deal with these social issues.

If they simply begin a relationship and lay the groundwork for a deal down the road, that's fine, too.

"We see this as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for the future."

But he wants to lay the groundwork for doing it in his second term.

"But its not too early to get started laying the groundwork."

He had already laid the groundwork where she was going with it.

His first government did lay the groundwork for future progress.

"I felt it was time to clear the decks," he said.

"We were thinking about moving, and I had to clear the decks a little," she said.

His friends said that in the middle of last week he was clearing the decks to run.

The job of the government is to clear the decks.

But the new insurance company would not take my check until I had cleared the decks with its predecessor.

No I'm trying to clear the decks before christmas.

The network has cleared the decks for the Florida story.

It was time to clear the decks and let some younger people surface.

I'm going to clear the decks before I make my exit.

I left office as a matter of protocol, to clear the decks for the new president's choice.