You're in charge of a committee at your church that is planning a fundraising event. You're having a lunch meeting with the other members of the committee. Everyone has had time to order their food, make small talk, and start eating. Now you want to start talking about the event, so you say:
OK. Let's get down to business.
OK.
One of the ways that English speakers use "OK" is to signal a change in the flow of conversation. In the example above, everyone was making small talk and chatting about different topics, but the speaker wanted to begin talking seriously about the event that they're planning. You can use "OK" when you want to:
- start a new topic of conversation
-
announce a decision
-
ask other people to make a decision
-
end a conversation
Let's get down to business.
This is a set phrase which people say when they're leading a group of people and want to get started with the main topic of discussion. Here are some other situations in which someone might say "Let's get down to business":
- a teacher has been taking attendance and making announcements, and now wants to start his lesson.
- a boss has called one of her employees into her office for a yearly performance review, but started off by asking about a problem that they've been dealing with that day. Now she wants to start the performance review.
You can see that "Let's get down to business" can be used not only in business situations, but in any situation where you have one important thing that a group of people has come together to talk about.
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