Comments on: Close call https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/ Upgrade your English Thu, 21 Nov 2024 05:09:59 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.2 By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-17299 Thu, 07 Nov 2024 13:59:35 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-17299 In reply to Dario.

Great use of “close call” … it might sound slightly better to say, “it was a close call when…” and then say what happened:

In the 2014 soccer game between Mexico and the Netherlands, it was a close call when the referee decided on a penalty kick against Mexico

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By: Dario https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-17288 Thu, 07 Nov 2024 02:09:03 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-17288 In the soccer game between Mexico and the Nehterlands in 2014 it was a close call to decide a penalty kick against Mexico.

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By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-16948 Thu, 03 Oct 2024 17:01:34 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-16948 In reply to Igor Brum.

JR started that. I remember the case from when I was a kid. Everyone called them, and the case, “The Menendez Brothers”. I’m interested in seeing how the series goes. Close call is right here

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By: Igor Brum https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-16919 Fri, 27 Sep 2024 23:30:55 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-16919 I’ve recently watched the Netflix series Monsters, about the two brothers who killed their parents. It was a close call for the judges to decide between the death penalty and life in prison.

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By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-16850 Sun, 22 Sep 2024 20:32:38 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-16850 In reply to Jiri.

That is a close call! I was on a snowy highway one day and mine was the car that spun around 360 degrees on the road. Luckily nothing happened, but that was my closest call in the car. I should not have been driving that day; I learned my lesson.

“Pushed the brake hard” – you can say, “slammed on the brakes”
“rotating along my car” – you probably mean, “spinning around my car”

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By: Jeff https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-16849 Sun, 22 Sep 2024 18:51:48 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-16849 In reply to Eugene.

“close call” is right, but the sentence makes a classic mistake in English, called a dangling participle. If you start a sentence with an -ing verb like “Taking,” then the next subject must be the thing or person who does the -ing verb.

So, you start with “taking into consideration”, the next subject must be the thing that did the action (took into consideration). That should be “the jury + an action,” but instead you have “it turned.”

Here is an example that’s much clearer: “Being an elderly woman, I helped my grandmother cross the street.” This implies that the speaker (“I”) is an elderly woman, which can’t be true in the sentence. The correct version is, “Being an elderly woman, my grandmother needs help crossing the street.”

So back to your example, “Taking into consideration all the evidence provided by both the defense and the prosecution, the jury faced a close call in determining the verdict.”

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By: Jiri https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-16839 Sat, 21 Sep 2024 18:30:31 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-16839 It happened in February in a cold foggy morning. I was driving on a highway with heavy traffic when I noticed that the road surface was becoming slippery. A minivan was overtaking me and when the driver wanted to change the line ahead of mine car he started spinning around. A driver of another car which drove behind the minivan pushed brake hard. All of a sudden there were four to seven cars rotating along my car and in a second in front of me. I said to myself, you can´t push the break, you can only turn the steering wheel smoothly. It was a close call. Other cars hit one another. I saw them spinning around in front of me. I luckily escaped of this accident. At once I was alone on the entire empty highway slowly continuing my way.

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By: Eugene https://plainenglish.com/expressions/close-call-2/#comment-16838 Sat, 21 Sep 2024 17:32:57 +0000 https://plainenglish.com/?post_type=expressions&p=24212#comment-16838 Talking into consideration all the evidence provided by both the defense and prosecution, it turned out to be a close call for the jury to decide whether the defendant was guilty or not.

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