Your Call

When there's a decision to be made, there are expressions that affirm who does and doesn't have the right to make that decision. The examples for your decision and not your decision are listed below.


CEO: The company lost a lot of money last year. Should we fire 1,000 employees to recover the losses?

Answer
a. It's your decision.
b. It's your call.
c. It's up to you.


Cleaning Lady: I think the company should get a large bank loan and focus on our next product line.

Answer
a. It's not your decision.
b. It's not up to you.
c. You're overstepping your bounds.
d. You don't have the authority to make that decision.

Decision Making

To Use / Exercise / Have Common Sense means to make the same reasonable decisions that a normal, logical person under normal circumstances would be expected to make. Common sense is often discussed in the negative, i.e. when somebody acted with a lack of it and the action ended badly.

Example:
#1) Why did you throw rocks at a beehive? Don't you have any common sense?
#2) The man yelled at a policeman. After he is released from prison, he will exercise more common sense.
#3) He rode a motorcycle without a helmet and was paralyzed in a crash. He didn't use common sense.
#4) Anyone with good common sense can run a business.



To Think Things Through means thinking about the consequences of an action before taking it. Again, it's often used in the negative when we're aware that it didn't happen.

Example:
#1) He obviously didn't think things through because now his girlfriend's sister is pregnant.
#2) When she got a tattoo of the devil on her face, she clearly hadn't thought things through.
#3) Before I make a decision, I need to sit calmly and think things through.


To Use Your Best Judgement means thinking about and making the best possible decision. It is often used as an imperative (an order to someone else).

Example:
#1) I won't tell you who to marry, but please use your best judgement.
#2) I can only use my best judgement when I'm not emotionally involved in the situation.



To Carefully Consider Something / To Consider Something Carefully means to make a decision logically, examining all of the details. It is the same as thinking carefully.

Example:
#1) I carefully considered their offer and finally decided that I would be happier working somewhere else.
#2) This isn't an easy decision and I have to consider it carefully.

I Always Get My Way

To get / have one's way means to want something out of a situation. It usually has to be agreed to by someone else, perhaps an authority figure, so the person who wants it doesn't have total control of the outcome.

Example:

#1) They always let their daughter have her way and it's turning her into a spoiled child.

#2) You can't always get your way in this life, so stop complaining.

#3) I wanted to transfer to a new office in the company, but I didn't get my way and stayed in the old office.

#4) My parents didn't want me to travel abroad, but I earned my own money and finally got my way by paying for the trip myself .

Word Up

The word "word" is most commonly used as a noun, but it can also be used as a verb. To Word  means to make an arrangement words to form a phrase/sentence. There is also the verb to reword / rephrase, which means to word a phrase differently than you had. And wording refers to how a phrase is worded within a phrase. To choose one's words is a synonym of to word.

Examples:

#1) He worded the sentence strangely because he wanted the meaning to be vague.

#2) Is there another way I can word this sentence?

#3) She stopped speaking and quickly reworded the sentence to make herself look innocent.

#4) He reworded some sentences in the report to give more information.

#5) Would you like to rephrase that last sentence?

#6) Let me rephrase that.

#7) The wording in his letter was very unclear.

#8) The wording is precise in most court documents.

#9) Lawyers have to choose their words carefully in a court case.

#10) I have to say something important it and I should choose my words carefully.

For No Reason / Without Warning

For no reason is an expression used when a situation / emotion / action / reaction seemingly has no cause. It answers the question "Why?" when the "why" isn't known.

#1) We were having a conversation and he started crying for no reason.

#2) She and I were watching TV together and she got angry with me for no reason.

#3) The team leader left his position for no reason and he never gave an explanation.


Without Warning is used for a sudden event that gives no signs before occurring.

#4) The car stopped running without warning and it wouldn't start again.

#5) The police officer struck me without warning and threw me in the police car.

#6) The stock market collapse came without warning.

Spell It Out

When you're making a reservation over the phone, you will have to give your name. Your name might be difficult for English speakers to understand, in which case you should spell it to them. You can do this by giving the letter plus "as in" or "like" and a common English word. The example dialogue uses a common Korean name, but the whole alphabet is listed below.

Dialouge

Receptionist:Can I have your full name please?

Caller: Yes, my name is Jin Cheol Shin. Do you need me to spell it for you?

Receptionist: Yes, please.

Caller: First is J like james, next is I like ice cream, N like Norway, then space, then C like Cat, H like...

Jin Cheol Shin

J like James

I like Ice cream

N like Norway

C like Cat

H like Hat

E like Echo

O like Orange

L like Lion

S like Summer

H like Hat

I like Ice Cream

N like Norway

Alphabet
A - Apple
B - Banana
C - Cat
D - Dog
E - Echo
F - Flower
G - Good
H - Hat
I - Ice Cream
J - James
K - Kite
L - Lion
M - Money
N - Norway
O - Orange
P - People
R - Radio
S - Summer
T - Tiger
U - Umbrella
V - Violin
W - Water
Y - Yellow
Z - Zebra

Note: These are examples. Any clear and common English word is fine.
"Q" and "X" are omitted because they are rare and easily understood over the phone.

Vocabulary Focus: Spontaneous and Unpredictable

Spontaneous is used for a sudden and unplanned action, or for people who habitually do things without planning them beforehand.

Example: #1) The man suddenly lifted the computer monitor from his desk and threw it to the ground. It must have been a build up of emotion because it was so spontaneous. #2) The explosion seemed spontaneous. They don't know what triggered it. #3) He fell in love with his girlfriend because she was spontaneous. When they met, he didn't know what they would do together. It made her an exciting and attractive person.


Unpredictable is used for a person or force whose actions cannot be guessed beforehand.

Example: #1) Lately, the weather has been unpredictable, so I always carry an umbrella. #2) The stock market is so complicated that the results are unpredictable. #3) He broke up with his girlfriend because she was unpredictable. She would often get angry or sad for no clear reason, and it gave him a lot of stress.

Empathy

When sharing emotions or feeling an emotion towards someone, we can use these common expressions. Using the correct prepositions is especially important here. Look at the examples below:


to feel happy for someone - #1) He's going to a great university and I feel happy for him. #2) She's finally found true love and I feel happy for her.

to feel sorry for someone - #1) She was rejected by the university and I feel sorry for her. #2) His girlfriend betrayed him and I feel sorry for him.

to worry about someone - #1) My daughter is looking pale and thin. She doesn't eat and there are cuts on her arms. I'm really worried about her. #2) I'm worried about my husband because he never talks to me anymore.

to care about someone - #1) I care about my brother, but I don't know how to help him. #2) My ex-boyfriend is a liar and I don't care about him anymore.

to understand how someone feels - #1) His girlfriend is in another city for the summer and he's quite sad. I went through the same thing with my husband, so I understand how he feels. #2) She's desperate because she can't find a good job. It took me a long time to find my job too, so I understand how she feels.

to relate to something - #1) He's having difficult with his marriage. I went through a divorce myself and I can relate to his situation. #2) His father is a drug-addicted, sexually abusive monster. I can relate to his trauma because my ex-husband was the same way.

to feel the same way - #1) My coworker told me he was bored at his job and I told him that I feel the same way. #2) He looked into my eyes and told me that he loves me. When I looked at him, I realized that I felt the same way.

Climbing

Climbing is the act of ascending, usually something that has a top. When thinking about climbing, you will think first about mountains, but there is a greater list of common things that can be climbed.

Tree - The monkey climbed (up) the tree to get a mango.

Bed - My cat climbed on the bed and pissed on it.

Stairs - She climbed (up) the stairs instead of taking the elevator to lose weight.

Hill - My brother and I climbed (up) the hill. At the top, we looked downwards and I pushed him.

Ladder - The fireman climbed (up) the ladder to capture a monkey eating a mango in a tree.

Corporate Ladder - He climbed (up) the corporate ladder by being more clever than his colleagues.

Table - The woman climbed on the table, danced and took off her shirt.

Shoulders - My daughter climbed on my shoulders and we walked around the park.

Wall - The cat climbed on the wall and walked across it.

Rope - The thief climbed (up) the rope onto the roof of the building.


Note: If you climb "up" something, you can usually climb "down" the thing as well. Example: #1) The woman climbed down the stairs. #2) The fireman climbed down the ladder. #3) I climbed down the hill. #4) The thief climbed down the rope.

I'm going to FOG you UP!

To fog up is a seldom used, but occasionally needed phrasal verb that describes when a transparent or reflective surface becomes coated with a fine mist, i.e. fog. Mirrors, glasses and windows are the things that most often "fog up" and examples of this phenomenon follow.

#1) His wife was taking a shower while he was trying to shave. The steam from the shower fogged up the window, so he had to wipe the mirror repeatedly.

#2) The weather was cold outside that day. When I entered the warm restaurant, my glasses fogged up and my friends laughed at me.

#3) During Titanic, Leonardo and Kate Winslet were in the back of a car, doing something conveniently off-camera. It was a noisy activity and fogged up the windows.