 Advanced English Conversation Exercises, I'm Jennifer of J4sEnglish.com and the Business English Academy and in today's video I'm going to teach you a must-know natural expression that's going to make you sound like me, like a native English speaker. You're going to hear this expression on TV, movies, in the workplace. It's one of those expressions that once you learn it, you can use it literally every day and this is the key to sounding fluent and sounding natural and sounding confident when you speak because you know you're using the same expressions that a native English speaker would use and that's exactly what you're going to feel by the end of today's lesson. So we're going to do this in the form of a listening exercise. So I'm going to say the expression three times just like I would say it to my friends or just like I would say it to my boss. So it might sound a little fast to you but this is the best way to improve your listening skills so you can actually understand conversations outside of the classroom on TV, movies and everywhere else. So I'm going to say it three times and I want you to write down exactly what you hear in the comments and then afterwards I'm going to explain what I said, the pronunciation changes and then we'll talk about how you can use this expression in an everyday natural context. Alright, let's get started. It's your call. It's your call. It's your call. Okay, could you hear me? This expression is pretty short and they're words that you're definitely familiar with so I hope you didn't have any problem with this. So let me say it very slowly. I said it is your call. So four words, that's it. It is your call. But of course I said this as only three words, right? Because I said it's, it's, I took it is and I formed a contraction. It's. Remember, contractions are grammatically correct. They're not slang. That's a myth that I hear every day. I don't know where it comes from. I don't know why students think this but they're grammatically correct. You can use them. It's your call. It's your call. Okay, now naturally. It's your call. Your, your call. So really here there's not much going on with pronunciation. The only thing I want to point out with it's your call, your, I'm not going to stress it like that, right? I'm going to say your. It's your call. It's your call. Your, your, er. So I'm taking or that vowel sound or your and I'm reducing it to er, er, your, your, your call, your call. It's your call. So that's really the only pronunciation change that's taking place. And the reason why I'm reducing that is because it's unstressed. It's not the most important part of the sentence. So I don't need to stress it. Call is the one that stress your call. So notice how call is a little bit louder and longer. Okay, let's talk about the structure of this expression. So we have it is the verb to be conjugated with it. It is someone's possessive, someone's call. So in the middle here for someone, I need a possessive. So it can be your call, his call, her call, their call, my boss's call. So notice if I put my boss, it needs to be possessive. My boss is call. My friend's call. My client's call. So it needs that possessive on it. So it is someone's call. So that's the structure. Okay, so what are we talking about here? It's your call. Oh, it's your call like telephone call. No, it doesn't have anything to do with the phone. It's not about answering a phone call, anything like that. What it means is it's your decision. So this is an expression. It doesn't have a literal meaning. It has a figurative meaning. So it means it's your decision to make. It's your decision. So I'm giving you responsibility over making the decision, responsibility and authority. I'm allowing you to make the decision. So basically it's your call is the answer to a question. So what could be a question where the answer is? It's your call. It's your decision. I want you to make the decision. Okay, let me give you an example. So you right now think about one. And as you're thinking, I'll give you my example and you can write down your examples in the comments as well. Okay? Okay, so for example, a question could be what movie do you want to watch tonight? What movie do you want to watch tonight? So let's say you and I are friends. We're hanging out and we agreed to watch a movie tonight. So I asked you a question. Oh, what movie do you want to watch tonight? And as your answer, you can use this expression. You can say it's your call. It's your call. Okay, so you're telling me it's your decision. You decide what movie to watch. Not me. So that would be the answer to the question. Okay, so did you think of a question where the answer could be? It's your call. Just write it down in the comments. I think this will be really fun to hear everybody's questions. Now it's a very simple expression, right? It just means it's your decision. But let's think about why, right? Why would I use this expression and say it's your call? Hmm. Well, let's take the example of what movie do you want to watch tonight? So you asked me that question. What movie do you want to watch tonight? Now, I would use this expression and say it's your call for a couple different reasons. Either I don't care. I don't really like movies. I don't really care if we watch an action movie. I don't care if we watch a drama. I don't care if we watch a commie comedy. I'm not really that into movies. So it doesn't really matter to me. So I don't care. And similar, I don't have an opinion. Maybe I, I don't know what movies are playing. I don't follow movies. And I decided to watch a movie tonight just because you know, maybe it's raining out or I'm really tired. And I don't have anything else to do. But really, I don't care. I don't have an opinion. Or maybe it's because I trust your opinion. Maybe you're a movie expert. Every movie that you recommend is the best movie I've ever seen. And you just know your movies. You have a blog about movies. You write movie reviews. You work in the movie industry. You're an expert. Now, let's think of a question in the workplace where the answer would be. It's your call. Hmm. Well, how about this one? I asked you, should I cancel the meeting? Should I cancel the meeting? You know, I'm trying to make this decision. And then you might say, it's your call. It's your call. You decide. Or another question. And you think of a question too. So think of a question in a professional context when you have it rated in the comments. Okay, another question. Should I increase the budget? Should I increase the budget? It's your call. Should I send this email to the client? Should I send this email to the client? It's your call. Okay, now, think about the reason why in this context, the reason why might be slightly different. The reason why could potentially be I don't want responsibility. Right? I don't want to involve myself in this decision because something really important like, should I increase the budget? Let's say your colleague asks you, should I increase the budget? That's a pretty big decision, right? And there could be some consequences if you make the wrong decision. So if you do increase the budget and you get in trouble or you don't increase the budget and same thing, you get in trouble, there could be a consequence. So if my colleague asks me this, I might say it's your call because I don't want to be involved because what if something goes wrong? And then if the boss asks why did you increase the budget or why didn't you increase the budget? What if my colleague said, well, Jennifer and I were talking about it and we decided all of a sudden I'm involved, right? So when you hear this expression in a workplace situation, it can also be a defense, a way to shield yourself, shield yourself against potential negative consequences. But it can also be simply because I don't care. Like let's say you're in a meeting and your colleague asks you, should we review this report first or that report first? I mean, that's a pretty insignificant decision. It implies you're going to review both reports. Eventually, you're just deciding which one to review first. So at that point, you might say it's your call because you don't care. You don't have an opinion. It doesn't matter to you. So there are times in a workplace situation where it can mean I don't care, not important to me. I don't have an opinion. But then also it can mean I don't want responsibility because I want to protect myself. So just interesting to keep that in mind. All right. So now you have this amazing expression. And why is it amazing? Because it's so simple. But it's so natural. I mean, if a second English second language learner used this expression with me, I'd be like, Oh my God, you're so fluent. You're so advanced because you sound like me. You sound like my friends. And that's the key to being fluent and speaking English confidently and fluently is using these natural expressions. And then also you're going to hear this expression all the time. So you'll be able to understand the significance. And you'll know how to reply and respond if someone uses it on you, right? Okay, so I asked you to think of some questions. If you haven't already, make sure you put those questions in the comment and just put it's your call in the comments as well. So you get used to using this expression, you get some practice writing it as well. Now before you leave, I want to give you a special little bonus. It's my free guide how to speak English fluently and confidently in six easy steps. So you can download this for free. You can get it right onto your iPad, your smartphone. And in here there's just some really practical advice. And basically it's the most common questions that I get from my students. So I wanted to operate in one complete package. So download this free guide. The link is in the description below. And the next time someone asks you your opinion on something, remember you can simply say it's your call. All right, thanks so much for watching and until next time, happy studying.