POLITE ENGLISH: 9 phrases for getting out of trouble

Hello. Welcome back to engVid. Today's lesson is a conversational lesson. We're looking

at phrases to help you get out of trouble. How could this help you? Well, we all have

difficult times at work where you need to keep a boss (an employer) happy; or in a domestic

situation, you may need to keep your partner happy if they're a little bit peeved - if

they're a little bit cross with you. So, here are some phrases that will help you to do

just that.

Now, you may remember a video that I did, which was looking at rumours and secrets,

and the situation we had in that video was that Lionel Messi had apparently called Cristiano

Ronaldo slightly big-headed. So, Cristiano might say: "Lionel, what's going on? What

did you mean by that?" And Lionel is going to have to sort of say: "It's okay, Cristiano.

What I meant was that you have a healthy self-regard". "A healthy self-regard", let's write that

up here. A healthy self-regard. "Healthy" meaning, you know, good for you - not bad;

"self", about oneself; "regard", a bit like the French word: "to look". "What I meant

was you have a healthy self-regard." So, it was a good thing; not a bad thing.

Cristiano says the same thing: -"Lionel, why did you say that?" -"Well, if I said that,

I didn't mean to." So, in this example, Lionel is basically saying: "Yeah. You know what,

Cristiano? That's exactly what I said, but I didn't mean to". "Didn't mean to", I mean,

this is quite a poor excuse, but it sounds polite, doesn't it? It makes it seem better

that Lionel didn't mean to say it. It just... The words just came out of the mouth.

Better this: "Let me put it another way. It's fantastic that you're so confident; it helps

you become such a good player." Okay? So, if we say something to a boss or a partner

and they don't like the way we say something, we can try another way: "Let me put it another

way. You're fantastic." Another way of... So, these two are quite similar, here. "Let

me rephrase what I just said..." So, words can be interpreted in a very personal way,

and different words make you think different things, so it's really important, the words

we do choose. If someone doesn't like the words we have chosen: "Let me rephrase..."

So, the prefix: "re" means "again"; "phrase", collection of words. "Let me put that into

another phrase; let me rephrase what I just said..." So, I've just said something in the

past tense; let me say something again now. Let me... I'm asking permission. "Let me say

something again in a better way."

Or we have another option, here, of saying: "No, no, no, no. That's not true at all. That's

not what I said at all." Okay? So, Lionel is saying: "No, Cristiano, what I... I did

not say that. That's not..." So we have the negative before "what I said". "That's not

what I said"-okay?-"at all" just emphasizes it that little bit more. This follows on;

it's the same sense that the rumour-the secret-is not true: "I've no idea who told you that,

but it's not true. I've no idea who told you that. I've no idea who told you", it's quite

a forceful means of expression, that. It's quite emphatic. Okay? It's definitely saying:

"This is not true."

So, being British, we always come up with quite polite phrases, as opposed to the Americans/North

Americans who might not beat around the bush quite as much. "I'm afraid that" is a slightly

politer way of saying the above sentence. "I'm afraid that just isn't true", okay? "Afraid"

softens the blow ever so slightly. "I'm afraid that just is not true." Okay.

Another very British phrase: "The fact of the matter is..." Okay? So, you could just

say: "The fact is", but we add in: "of the matter", to do with this subject. "The fact

of this story... Of this matter... The fact of the matter is I did not call you bigheaded."

So, if the situation is becoming a little bit heated and it's coming into a little bit

of an argument, you might just say: "Let's get this straight..." Okay? So, why do we

say "straight"? Well, it's because... I know this is not a beautifully straight line, but

things are a little bit muddled; a little bit confused - we don't know who's said what.

If I say: "Let's get this straight", again, it's saying: "I'm going to tell you what actually

happened. I'm going to tell you the facts now; not rumours or secrets. These are facts."

Okay. So, we've got here nine sentence starters to help you steer clear of trouble at work

and at home. Hopefully you don't need to, but as a last resort, try one of these phrases

to get you going. And why not try to do the quiz now to make sure you're using these sentences

in the correct manner? Thank you so much for watching. Do subscribe to my YouTube channel

so you know and you stay informed of what I'm up to next; there's always new stuff coming

onto this channel. Until next time, see you.