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I was told that "holding her breath" is not used properly in sentence a. What about b and c? If the latter two sentences are okay, how do they differ from a?

a. Leslie is holding her breath for the upcoming new smartphone scheduled for release next month.

b. He held his breath while the results were read out.

c. The whole world holds its breath for this speech.

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    (a) is not wrong, but we don't normally speak of 'holding one's breath' for an event that won't happen for a month - in fact we say 'Don't hold your breath' to warn someone that they may have a long wait. I would expect (c) to imply that the speech would be made quite soon; perhaps within hours, though obviously that's longer than a person could really hold their breath for.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Oct 6, 2021 at 12:21

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(a) is not wrong, but we don't normally speak of 'holding one's breath' for an event that won't happen for a month - in fact we say 'Don't hold your breath' to warn someone that they may have a long wait. See Meaning of "but don’t hold your breath"?

I would expect (c) to imply that the speech would be made quite soon; perhaps within hours, though obviously that's longer than a person could really hold their breath for.

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