My boss asked me to take my eyes off the ball.

Step 1: Analyze the question The sentence uses the idiom "take your eyes off the ball." You are asked to pick the option that best explains what the boss meant.

Step 2: Explain the concept "To take your eyes off the ball" is an idiom from sports like football, cricket, and tennis. It means to stop paying attention to the most important thing, or to lose focus on the main task. It is normally used figuratively, so it has nothing to do with actually playing football.

Note the wording of the sentence: the boss asked me to take my eyes off the ball. Read literally, the boss is telling me to lose focus. So the correct explanation is the one that gives the idiom's meaning: stop paying attention to what is most important.

Step 3: Evaluate the options

• A. I should stop paying attention to what is most important. This matches the meaning of the idiom ("take my eyes off the ball" = stop focusing on the key thing). ✔
• B. I should be focused when I am about to stay off football. This is irrelevant and makes no sense in context.
• C. I should stay off football after sustaining an injury. This is a literal reading with an invented injury, and it is not supported by the sentence.
• D. I should be focused when playing football. This is a literal reading. It also gets the meaning backwards, because the idiom means losing focus, not keeping it.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is A.

Tip: For idiom questions in JAMB English, never take the words literally. Ask yourself, "What does this expression mean in everyday life?" Then check whether the sentence says to do the idiom or to avoid it. Here the boss asked the speaker to do it, so the meaning is "stop focusing on what matters most."