Learning English

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Summary

Feifei’s done enough work and is calling it a day. But Rob thinks a day should be 24 hours long! Hopefully this programme will explain why and when we ‘call it a day’.

Transcript

Feifei
Hello, and welcome to The English We Speak with me, Feifei...

Rob
…and hello, it’s me, Rob.

Feifei
Have you had a busy day today?

Rob
I sure have! And there’s plenty more to do before home time!

Feifei
Well, after this programme, I think I’ll call it a day. I’ve got my yoga class to go to.

Rob
Call it a day?! You’ve only been here seven hours and there are 24 hours in a day.

Feifei
I know that, Rob. But I’ve finished my work, so that’s my day finished!

When we ‘call it a day’ we just mean we have decided to stop what we are doing for the rest of the day. It could be because we have just finished a task, done enough or are just bored of doing it. So, Rob, I’ve done my work, so I really must call it a day – I don’t want to miss my yoga class.

Rob
Haven’t you got time for some examples?

Feifei
Of course…

Examples
We’ve been working on this presentation for hours now. Let’s call it a day and carry on tomorrow.

Can we call it a day? We’ve been training since this morning, I’m exhausted.

It’s almost six o’clock, so let’s call it a day and carry on with the building work tomorrow.

Feifei
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. We’re looking at the phrase ‘to call it a day’, which we can say to express that we are going to stop what we are doing for the rest of the day. Now, Rob, if you think you’ve done enough, why don’t you just call it a day?

Rob
I couldn’t possibly finish work now! I’m going to be working into the night.

Feifei
So, Rob, what are you doing that’s making you work so late?

Rob
Well, I volunteered to write some extra The English We Speak scripts.

Feifei
Don’t worry about that now, Rob. Call it a day and do it tomorrow.

Rob
OK, Feifei, if you say so. In that case, maybe I could join you at your yoga class?

Feifei
Sure. Come along.

Rob
Great!

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