Agree to disagree - What is a squabble? Mr Duncan explains - Lesson 14 #englishaddictwithmrduncan

It would be fair to say that in life, there will be moments when people disagree with each other.

There might be times when two or more people have some sort of conflict of opinion.

The word ‘conflict’ means a moment of opposition or disagreement.

Two things do not go together.

There is conflict.

Disagreements can take on many different forms.

A simple verbal disagreement, for example, which involves a difference of opinion during a conversation.

A discussion where various views and opinions are expressed will often lead to some type of conflict occurring.

We often describe this as a difference of opinion.

The thoughts and opinions of a group of people differ in some way.

This will lead to conflict and at times direct confrontation.

Confrontation refers to a moment when two opposing groups with differing opinions meet.

A confrontation takes place.

There is an existing disagreement or conflict between those people.

There are various degrees of confrontation

that can occur in daily life, from a very mild or trivial disagreement, with no major problems being created, right up to the very serious

confrontations where things might become more active, by this, I mean the use of aggression.

The expressing of thoughts and opinions in an aggressive way.

This will often involve the emotion of anger and the action of shouting, leading to the use of strong language.

To shout is to raise your voice.

A person who is angry will often raise their voice.

They are expressing an emotion through not only their words, but also the way in which they are speaking them.

The tone of their voice will be aggressive.

An angry confrontation can be verbal or physical, and quite often a combination of both.

Sometimes a disagreement will be hard to resolve.

By this, I mean the reaching of some sort of agreement.

Perhaps two people who are in a situation where conflict is taking place might eventually agree to disagree.

They both realise that there will be no solution to their disagreement, they will simply agree to disagree.

There are many words that can be used to describe an argument, or a moment of conflict between people.

We can describe it as a squabble.

Normally this word refers to a disagreement that happens over one particular thing.

You might squabble with another person over the last piece of cake.

Two people might squabble over an empty seat.

They both want to sit there. They squabble over it.

Then there is the word bicker, which basically means an unfriendly conversation.

It is normal in a long-term relationship for a certain amount of bickering to take place.

They might bicker over whether or not to open the bathroom window.

They might bicker over money or some other aspect of their relationship.

Two people might get into an argument and stop communicating with each other because of that disagreement.

We can describe this as falling out.

Two people fall out with each other.

They no longer stay in touch.

They have fallen out.

A type of disagreement that takes place over a long period of time can be described as a dispute.

Two groups of people might have a dispute.

They disagree on a certain thing, which leads to a long-term dispute taking place.

Disputes often occur between employees and the company they work for.

Disputes over working hours or the amount of money paid for certain types of work.

A dispute can take place over a very long period of time.

Direct disagreement can be described as a row.

Two people will row with each other.

They have a row. They are rowing with each other.

Then there is the word argue, which once more describes a type of confrontation or disagreement.

To argue is to disagree or fight over a certain thing.

You argue with someone, you are arguing with each other.

An argument is taking place.

We also have the word fight, which can either be figurative or literal.

You might fight a certain situation that is taking place.

You might have to fight some personal issues in your own life.

Perhaps you eat too much food and you are trying to lose weight and become fit.

That is your own personal fight

As a physical action...

the word fight means a direct confrontation, either verbally or physically.

We often associate the word fight with direct physical contact

involving aggressive behaviour, often resulting in injury.

Two people might fight outside a nightclub.

Quite often, this type of confrontation is both physical and violent.

A general term for any disagreement might be described as a battle.

A battle is taking place.

A battle between two groups of people.

In war we will often use the term battle when direct confrontation is taking place between two military groups.

In this sense, we are using the word to mean a serious confrontation where injury and loss of life will occur.

A contest or competition might also use the word battle when describing the rules.

Two teams might battle against each other.

The result of this type of battle normally results in there being one winner.

So as you can see from these very vivid descriptions of confrontation,

there are many degrees of conflict and disagreement that take place every single day,

from the small, trivial disagreement over a single thing, right up to the large scale battles involving many people.

I suppose the final question should be why do we do this?

Why do we always fight?

Why is it so hard for us to agree on things?

Sadly, we don't have time to answer that question today.

We will have to save that topic for another time.