A close call

English lesson application (with Jale): https://forms.gle/RGS9xwfLHXRRnmaQ9

To check the transcript: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2379282

A close call

is a situation where something bad or unwanted almost happens, but you narrowly avoid it.

Example:

Imagine you have an early morning flight.

You leave home with plenty of time, but there’s unexpected traffic on the way to the airport.

The minutes keep passing.

By the time you arrive, you’re running through the terminal with your suitcase.

You get to the gate just as they’re preparing to close it.

You make it onto the plane, sit down, and finally breathe.

“That was a close call. I thought I was going to miss my flight.”

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

You know those moments when something almost goes very wrong… but somehow, at the very last second, it doesn’t?

You almost drop your phone, but catch it before it hits the ground.

You think you’ve missed your train, but the doors are still open.

For a second, your heart stops.

Then you realize:

“Oh wow. That was a close call.”

Hello everyone, and welcome to Daily English.

Today’s expression is “a close call.”

A close call is a situation where something bad or unwanted almost happens, but you narrowly avoid it.

The important word here is almost.

The bad thing didn’t actually happen — but it came close enough that you felt the danger, stress, or relief of it.

Let’s look at two examples.

Imagine you have an early morning flight.

You leave home with plenty of time, but there’s unexpected traffic on the way to the airport.

The minutes keep passing.

By the time you arrive, you’re running through the terminal with your suitcase.

You get to the gate just as they’re preparing to close it.

You make it onto the plane, sit down, and finally breathe.

“That was a close call. I thought I was going to miss my flight.”

You didn’t miss it.

But there wasn’t much room between making it and missing it.

That’s a close call.

Here’s another example.

You’re walking down the street while talking to a friend.

You’re so caught up in the conversation that you step toward the road without noticing a cyclist coming.

Your friend immediately pulls you back.

The cyclist passes right in front of you.

For a second, neither of you says anything.

Then your friend looks at you and says:

“That was a close call.”

This time, the situation is more serious.

Something could genuinely have gone wrong.

But thankfully, it didn’t.

You’ll also hear people simply say:

“That was close!”

The meaning is very similar.

“That was close!” often comes naturally right in the moment.

But when we’re describing the situation, we can call it “a close call.”

“I almost missed my flight. It was a close call.”

Now it’s your turn.

Can you remember a close call you’ve had?

Maybe you nearly missed something important, almost lost something valuable, or avoided a problem at the very last second.

What happened?

And could you say:

“That was a close call”?

If you’d like to revisit today’s expression, you’ll find the free transcript linked in the description below.

Thank you for being here today.