10 Must-Know English Phrases that You're Going to use Again and Again [Giving Opinions]
- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.
And today we are going to look at 10 phrases
that you can use to give your opinion in English.
So you're going to be using these phrases
again and again if you learn them properly.
So I'm going to give you the phrases,
lots of examples, and also, be sure
to listen for the intonation when I saw these phrases.
Because that is going to help you express yourself
And in addition to being able to express yourself
more freely, you're also going to be able
to better understand native English speakers
when they talk, in conversations, in movies,
and when you listen to podcasts, too.
Now stay until the end because I have a question for you.
So let's get started with number one.
The first one is I couldn't agree more.
that you actually agree with them in a strong way
or disagree with them in a strong way.
For example, if somebody says,
"Football or soccer is the worst sport in the world."
I say, "I couldn't disagree more."
I couldn't disagree more, it's the best sport in the world.
But if someone said to me, "Lionel Messi
"is the best player of our generation."
I would say, "I couldn't agree more."
So this is a great one to use.
If you want to tell somebody that you strongly agree
with their opinion or if you strongly disagree.
I couldn't agree more, I couldn't disagree more.
but it can also be very flexible.
It is good, it is bad, it is terrible.
So let's say I go out with some friends
and my wife asks me in the morning,
"How was last night, how was last night?"
"It was awful, nobody showed up.
"We had a couple of drinks here and there.
"There was a fight, there was a lot of violence downtown.
"We couldn't get a taxi, it was awful."
Alternatively, I could say, "It was amazing.
"There was no violence downtown.
"We saw lots of people that we knew.
"And then we got home about one a.m.
"It was incredible."
If you want to say something is in between good or bad,
For example, "How is that new restaurant?"
Another way to say this with different intonation is,
And a third way is to say, "It's okay, it's okay."
Now the next one is using would or wouldn't
to give your opinion about what somebody should do.
So you can say, for example,
"I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't do that."
Another football example is you're watching a game
and you don't agree about a position.
For example, Ronaldo on the field and you say,
"I wouldn't play him out wide.
"I would play him as a striker, as a central striker.
"I wouldn't play him out wide in this game."
Another example is your friend says,
"I'm gonna quit my job and just play computer games all day
"because I just want to do what I want to do."
And you say, "I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't do that.
"I would think about this a little bit more first
"before you make this decision.
The next one is think, okay, and we can use this
what your opinion is about something.
But you can also use it to give predictions
For example, somebody new has started at your workplace
and everybody's talking about him and saying,
"Do you think he's a nice guy?
"Do you think he's going to do well here?"
Asking about your prediction for the future
And you can say, "I think he's nice, I think he's nice.
"I think he's gonna do okay here.
"I think he's gonna do okay here."
Another common example is you're thinking about where to go
for your next stop, you're downtown.
You've been to a couple of restaurants
and somebody says, "Let's go here next."
And you can say, "I think it'll be closed now.
"I think it will be closed now."
And another football example, "I think that Liverpool
"are going to go through a tough spell soon."
So I think they're going to lose some games
I think Liverpool are going to through a tough spell soon.
An example that I often say on this channel is,
"I think you're going to enjoy this lesson.
"I think you're going to find this useful."
So I think is a really good one to learn.
And if you go to my website, there'll be a link
in the description, I'll leave some more examples
with think because it's such a great one to use.
So get those examples, internalize them,
and then use them in everyday English.
The next one is I'd say, okay.
So I would say is contracted to I'd say.
Now we use this when we want to give an opinion
Where we want to soften the opinion a little bit.
The first one is this, I'm not a doctor,
but I'd say that you need to go to the hospital right now.
you need to go to the hospital right now.
Or I'm not a doctor, but I'd say
that that sounds quite dangerous.
I'd say that that sounds quite dangerous.
And if you just want to agree with somebody,
you can say, "I'd say so, I'd say so."
The next one is one of my favorites
want to give evidence for your opinion.
And it's used a lot when people are debating certain things,
like policy or which food items are best for you,
anything really, when it comes to health
or anything that affects public policy.
and give you some examples of this.
Studies show that, studies show that.
So I've just put studies show that into Google
and we're going to look at some of the headlines.
Studies show that random acts of kindness are healthy.
So they did a study to test this,
to see if random acts of kindness are healthy.
So if you're having an argument with somebody
or a debate, you can say, "Well, it's good to be nice
"to people because studies show
"that random acts of kindness are healthy."
Studies show that wealthy and powerful
Studies show that pets in the workplace are good business.
Studies show that women like psychopaths, wow.
So you can see, you can actually
just do this for yourself to have a look at studies.
But if you're having a debate with somebody,
you can then use this knowledge
as a way to give a stronger argument.
So you can say, "Studies show that this is healthy for you."
Or, "Studies show that children should do this every day."
and I think they use it in Australia, as well.
And it's this, I reckon, I reckon.
Now I've stopped saying this as much
because I live in the U.S. now,
but I used to say this all the time,
I reckon, and it's another way to say I think, I think.
I reckon, for example, at work you might say,
"I reckon this'll work, I reckon this'll work."
This new marketing campaign, I reckon this will work.
Now listen to this one carefully
because it uses relaxed pronunciation, okay.
So let's say that you are throwing a party
and you're thinking about who is going to come to the party
or not, and you talk about David.
Now David doesn't always come to parties.
He says he'll come, but he doesn't usually come.
And you ask your friend, "Ja reckon he'll come?"
Now this is short for do you reckon.
Ja reckon, ja reckon he'll come?
So you can see how much that has been contracted.
Now I made a lesson on this so I'll leave a link to that
in the description for you to watch.
And another football example is,
I reckon we'll get beat today.
I just have this feeling, I reckon we'll get beat today.
The next one is really good because it's used in a way
so that you can give your opinion,
where you want to acknowledge what somebody says,
but really you want to give your opinion.
I see what you're saying, but.
I see what you're saying means I understand your opinion.
I understand your thought process here.
I see what you're saying, but.
And again, it just means, I'm listening to you,
but my opinion's going to be stronger than yours.
Now when my friend and I, Rodrigo, had a debate
about who was the best player out of Messi and Ronaldo,
I'm sure one of us said, "I see what you're saying,
I see what you're saying about Ronaldo.
I understand your opinion, but Messi is better.
Now you can also say, "I don't see what you're saying."
I don't see what you're saying,
which means I don't understand your opinion at all.
I don't see what you're saying.
Now the next one is a good example
of British understatement, okay.
Where you can say something like,
"It wasn't the best movie, it wasn't the best movie."
This means the movie is terrible.
It wasn't the best movie means it's terrible.
But in British English we like to
understate things like that and not be quite as direct.
we're not the best team at the moment.
We're not the best team at the moment,
which means we're terrible at the moment.
Another example is saying about David at work,
"Well, he's not the most polite person in the world."
Which means, he's really rude.
He's not the most polite person in the world.
Or if somebody asks you about that new restaurant,
instead of saying it was awful, you can say,
"It wasn't the best food I've ever had."
And the next one is in my experience,
which is where you're using your experience
to give your opinion extra strength.
So for example, in my experience,
people don't stick with a goal for long enough.
So I talk a lot about goals, especially in my book,
"The 5-Step Plan for English Fluency"
and I can say, "In my experience,
"people don't stick with goals long enough."
SO they don't continue with their goals
for a long enough period of time.
In my experience, it's really hard
for people to give up smoking.
So I have been around a lot of people who smoke
and I can say, "In my experience,
"it seems really difficult for people to give up smoking."
So those are 10 phrases that we can use
to give our opinion in English.
Now it's time for the question and for you to practice.
A friend says that he wants to quit his job
and play computer games instead.
Use the phrases that we've used in this lesson
to help you, so what do you say to him?
Now if you are new here, then please subscribe.
And also turn on the notification bell
so that you can get new lessons from me.
and download my fluency book for free.
You can just enter your details
and I'll send it to your email address.
There'll be a link in the description, too.
Okay, thank you so much for watching.
If you have found this useful,