Have you ever had a noisy roommate?
Maybe they were a musician?
Or they had loud parties?
Did you ever have to ask them to be quiet or “take it down a notch”?
What does that mean?
Today we’ll show you how to use the phrase “take it down a notch” to indicate that something should be reduced in tone, volume, or intensity.
Find out how useful this phrase can be today.
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What does it mean?
To reduce, to lower, to lessen, to take it easy, to relax, to bring the energy level down
Contexts where it’s useful:
- Volume: Your roommate is playing with his band in the room next door
- A: Hey guys can you take it down a notch? I’m going to bed soon.
- B: Yeah no worries we didn’t realize we were so loud.
- Intensity: The amount that events are packed together into a short period of time.
- Example: During our Boston Adventure weekend Friday and Saturday were super intense with challenges with native speakers, but on Sunday morning we took it down a notch with a group discussion about Good Will Hunting in the park.
- Frequency: How often something occurs.
-
- A: So how often do you go to the gym?
B: I used to go 7 days a week but I took it down a notch this spring and now I go 5 days a week.
- A: So how often do you go to the gym?
- Speed: Hey you’re speaking too fast. Can you take it down a notch?
Your Takeaways:
- Listen for this on TV, in movies, or on the subway if you live in the US.
- Choose one context where it fits and try using it.
- Continue to try to use it.
What questions do you have from today?
Try it out by making a sentence and write it in the comments!
