Everybody was apprehensive about Raghav, the newcomer’s performance, as he had joined school pretty late and had missed out on some of the important lessons. But Raghav was on the ball and performed much better than many others.
The idiom to be on the ball means to be alert and quick to understand what is happening. The phrase originated in the sporting arena and is a contraction of the expression ‘keep your eye on the ball ’. It is used to describe an alert, sharp-witted, agile, insightful person.
It’s hard to trick a person who is on the ball because he is always alert. You could say that a speaker, who senses that his audience is getting bored of his speech and tries to bring in more interaction from them, is on the ball . Some days you are really not on the ball as you had a bad night’s sleep.
So, how have you been this week? On the ball ?
