I don't think (sentence)

In this example:

I don't think I'll be able to make it.

Notice that the speaker says "I don't think I'll be able to" instead of "I think I wonn't be able to". In English, it's better to make "do" negative and keep the modal ("can", "will", "should", etc.) positive:

I don't think I should leave him here by himself.

I don't think I've been there.

I don't think she wants to go.

due to (something)

"Due to ___" explains expresses the cause of something.

You use "due to" in slightly formal situations. For example, an announcement on a train might include "due to ___":

Due to construction, the uptown 1 train will not be stopping at 50th Street, 59th, or 63rd. The next stop is 72nd Street.

The thing that follows "due to ___" should be a noun. As another example, if something happened because it's raining, you don't say "due to it's raining". You have to use a noun:

The game has been postponed due to rain.

If you want to say that the reason for something was an action, you have to find a way to make that action into a noun. For example:

The project was a failure due to lack of communication between team members.

The action in this sentence is "team members didn't communicate". But to put it in noun form, you say "lack of communication. You could also say:

The project was a failure due to team members not communicating.

In this example, "team members not communicating" acts as a noun.

"Due to" can fit into a sentence two different ways:

• (something) is due to (something)
• (something happens) due to (something)

(something) is not an option

The phrase "___ is not an option" means that you can't do something. For example:

I have a two-year-old and an infant, so flying is not an option.

This means that the speaker can't fly on an airplane because dealing with two young children on the plane would be too difficult.

A common phrase that you may hear is:

Failure is not an option.

People who say this mean that they must succeed at something.

a budget

A "budget" is a limit on the amount of money that someone can spend.

Your personal budget is based on how much money you make, and how much you need to save each year.

Companies and organizations have lots of different budgets for different things. For example, a company might have a technology budget for computer equipment, a travel budget for business travel, and so on.

Here are some ways to talk about a budget:

He needs to learn to live within his budget.

We have a ten thousand dollar per year budget for education and training.

I heard that our budget is getting cut.