"Get to the point" and other common expressions in English ☝️

17,264 views ・ 2018-02-15

English with Jennifer


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi everyone. It's Jennifer here with some useful expressions for everyday English.
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Have you ever heard someone talk and talk, and you wished they would just get the point?
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I’m guilty of not coming to the point right away when I talk and when I write.
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I like to provide background information, so I don’t always state the main things first.
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To GET to the point or to COME to the point means you say or write your most important idea immediately.
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We can use these variations for emphasis:
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get right to the point, come straight to the point.
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When we write email or text someone, we usually get right to the point and we don’t waste words.
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Can you think of another situation when it’s important to come straight to the point?
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01:05
A similar expression is to get to the heart of the matter.
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However, telling someone, "Get to the point" OR "I wish you’d get to the point" …sounds impatient. So be careful not to be rude.
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In contrast, if I suggest, “Let’s get to the heart of the matter,” I’m showing more sensitivity.
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At least, that's how I hear it.
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"To get to the heart of the matter" is to identify the central issue, the main problem.
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If your friend is terribly upset and trying to explain why,
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it may take some tears and a good amount of talking before you get to the heart of the matter.
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In a work situation, you might choose a different expression: to get to the bottom of something. This is similar to our previous expression.
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When you get to the bottom of a matter, you work to discover the reason or cause of a problem because you want to fix it.
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If a problem appears at work, you can lead your colleagues into action and say:
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Let’s get to the bottom of this. Let’s figure out what went wrong.
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An equivalent expression is get to the root of the problem or to get to the root of a matter.
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If production is going down or if sales are dropping, a company needs to get to the root of the problem and take corrective action.
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It’s time for you to put these expressions into use. Choose one and write an example in the comments.
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I’ll offer corrections as time allows. Please help one another by reading and commenting on other examples.
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If you enjoy learning common expressions that you can use in everyday English, please let me know and like this video.
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And by the way, do you know about sponsorhips?
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Well, I’ll get right to the point and tell you that by sponsoring my channel, you’re helping me continue my work on YouTube.
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Watch my video about the sponsorship feature to learn about the special perks you get once you become a sponsor of English with Jennifer.
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That’s all for now. As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!
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