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Reader question: Please explain “due diligence” in the following passage (Portsmouth in dark again as bidding consortium gets new backer, April 6, 2010, Guardian.co.uk): On the opening day of his due diligence at Portsmouth Rob Lloyd, who represents a mystery potential buyer, has informed the club’s administrator of “a change in his funding”, according to Andrew Andronikou, the head administrator. Andronikou said he hoped to send proposals out to Portsmouth's creditors over the next week or so. Regarding the change of identity of the buyer represented by Lloyd, Andronikou told the Guardian: “We're trying to discover who the new party is. We were told the identity of the original one. But now there’s been a change in [Lloyd’s] funding, a change to his purchaser.” My comments: This is a question I’ve answered once (hit this link - http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/columnist/2007-11/20/content_6266866.htm), but it’s a good question and so I will answer it again. An idiom, by definition, is an expression whose meaning one can not always infer directly from the individual words involved. Due diligence, though, is not one of those. As a matter of fact, you can pretty much figure out its meaning by understanding each of these two words. In short, “due diligence” means “diligence” that is “due”. Diligence is the effort and care paid to some task by, say, a diligent student. The diligent student always does his homework and does it with care. He burns the late night oil if he has too much of it to handle during the day and evening. And he does not make any mistakes, either. Understandably the diligent student is the favorite of strict teachers. | 
