Have you ever made a really dumb mistake? A mistake you regretted
instantly afterwards?
Well I have and I'll tell it to you. So I was working at an
organization with a team of about 8 people. And we were in charge of preparing some communication
documents. So my boss sent an email to the entire team of eight of us, and
asked us to prepare a report. Now,
I didn't think that this report was a very good idea. And I wanted to tell my
coworker this. So I wrote an email to my coworker and I said, "this assignment is a joke".
Now to call something or someone a joke is an insult.
It's a criticism and it's quite harsh.
It's quite mean. Now, I was only sending this to a co-worker, but I
accidentally pressed reply all and I sent it to my entire team including
my boss.
Calling him, in front of everyone, a joke.
Now, that was not a very proud moment for me. And
I'm going to teach you an expression that you can use, a very common expression, that
you can use in both a business context or in everyday context.
Hopefully you won't have to use this expression,
but if there if you need it.
My name is Jennifer, a certified English teacher, and let's hope I don't make any more mistakes like that in the future.
So first,
I'm going to say the expression three times in a natural pace, to see if you can understand it. Then I'll
explain it to you slowly and I'll explain what the expression means, as well as the pronunciation changes.
So while I'm saying the expression at a natural pace,
please make sure you write it down word for word in the comments, to see if you could understand. Okay?
She really dropped the ball on the project.
She really dropped the ball on the project.
She really dropped the ball on the project.
And, here's what I said very slowly
She really dropped the ball
on
the
project. And this sounded like she really dropped the ball on the project.
Okay, so let's talk about what's happening.
So first the expression. The expression is "to drop the ball".
This is the expression to drop the ball.
Now this means to make a mistake. To fail. Or to neglect
someone or something.
So, at the beginning when I explain to you the mistake I made, I could have said: I
really dropped the ball. Or just I dropped the ball. I
dropped the ball. I made a mistake. I failed.
So it's a negative expression.
So listen to this example sentence.
Let's say I have a job interview. And my friend wants to ask me
how did the interview go. And I can reply,
If I think that I made a mistake in the interview.
I failed at the interview, or just overall it didn't go well.
I can say I dropped the ball. I
dropped the ball during the interview.
So that can be an expression to tell my friend. I did not do very well
I dropped the ball but implies that I made a specific
mistake or I
failed for a specific reason and we can also use this as
Advice to someone so I can tell someone
Don't drop the ball. Don't drop the ball
So let's say a friend or a co-worker or a boss gave you a very important task
And they're just reminding you of the importance of it. They can say don't drop the ball
I'm really counting on you
So it's letting you know really that there's a lot of pressure on you. You're not allowed to fail
you're not allowed to make a mistake because this task is very
Important so don't drop the ball
Now we can also use this if we neglect
something or someone
Usually because we're busy with something else so it's an oversight
So in that sense, we make a mistake or we fail at something so we can use the expression
So I can say let's say I was late for a meeting with my boss. So I
Neglected this meeting, but I also made a mistake
I made a mistake of not making sure I got to the meeting on time
So because of that I could tell my friend I really dropped the ball today. I was late for a meeting with my boss. I
Totally dropped the ball. So when I want to express that, I think I did something wrong
That I made a mess. I failed in some capacity. I dropped the ball
Okay. So now that you know what the expression means let's look at the pronunciation here because there's something very important that
I want to point out now in all of my sentences
What verb tense would I have been using I?
Dropped the ball in the interview
well
Because the interview is now over and I'm talking about an action that's in the past
My sentence I dropped the ball is in the past
So let's look at the pronunciation
of this because notice how it sounds very similar to drop as a
Regular present simple verb so in the present simple to talk of a routine action
I could say I always drop the ball. So I always drop the ball listen to that pronunciation
I always drop the ball
But in the past simple, I could say yesterday. I dropped the ball
yesterday I dropped the ball, so
notice how drop and dropped sound very similar at a natural pace
This is because of the pronunciation of the regular IDI verb in this form, so
the verb drop it
ends in a
Puppy a pup now P is a voice Lisp
consonant or an unvoiced
Consonant. This means that our vocal chords are not being used on the P poop
so take your hand and put it in front of your face and
say pup
pup
Notice that puff of air that breath. You can feel your breath on your hat
So when we have a sound that's coming off of our lips
we call that and
Voiced sound because our vocal cords are not being used when the sound is coming out as a puff of air
So when I have a verb that ends in an unvoiced sound
my IDI
Pronunciation is actually as a soft T dropped
So that I add a drop
drop
So I have that P and then I add a T dropped
dropped I
dropped
The ball I dropped
The ball so when I say it slowly you can hear the T the puff of air
but because that
Puff of air is a very hard sound. I can't link it to the next word and
therefore I would have a pause in between
Now, you know in natural spoken English. We don't like pauses between our words
So what I do is I make a flap T
So basically, I just put my mouth in the T position
But I don't push out the air
So I don't have that puff of air at the end and because of this it makes it a lot easier
To link to the next stop so I can say drop the ball yesterday. I dropped the ball
Repeat yesterday. I dropped the ball
Okay, but if I was over pronouncing it or adding a pause, I would say yesterday I dropped
the ball with that
Sound but naturally you don't hear that puff of air. So yesterday I dropped the ball
repeat
Yesterday I dropped the ball
Yesterday I dropped the ball
Very good now going back to our sentence
I said she really dropped the ball on the project now
I want to point out the pronunciation of project so notice how I'm saying
project
Project. Ah
Project project. So although the word is spelled with the Oh
Project. I'm pronouncing it as project. This is the standard American pronunciation
although I
Frequently hear even native speakers pronounce it as project. So whether you use it as project or
project
You'll be understood and I think both are relatively
acceptable although you may hear more people pronounce it as project and
Also notice this joke
joked
Now in English Jo
Jae is a very hard sound to
project Jeff checked repeat Jeff
Jeff Jeff
Good
project
project
Very good and notice the syllable stress is on which syllable project
Project
So I'm saying
Project I'm saying Jett
shorter and slightly lower in tone quieter than
project
But you still hear that very hard to sound with it
Okay, so all together she really dropped the ball on that project
Repeat she really dropped the ball on that project
Very good. Okay. Hopefully you won't have to use this expression, but it's very commonly used
Especially in a business context. So now practice this expression. Let me know in the comments
When was the last time you drop the ball? If you found this video helpful, please hit the like button share
And of course subscribe, thank you so much for watching and until next time happy studying






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