American English Conversation 😲 Expressions for Giving Surprising News

13,693 views ・ 2020-04-09

English with Jennifer


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

00:00
Hi everyone. I'm Jennifer from English with Jennifer.
0
560
4299
00:04
Some people love surprises. Others hate them. What kind of person are you? In this
1
4860
7060
00:11
lesson, I'll teach you some conversational expressions that will
2
11920
3660
00:15
prepare you for the next time you give or receive surprising news. If you follow
3
15580
13430
00:29
me on Instagram, you might have seen this before. It's a face roller. I got it for
4
29010
5790
00:34
less than five dollars, if you can believe it. I've been using it for about
5
34800
3930
00:38
a year. Maybe not as much as I could, but I use it. I like to think it works. We say
6
38730
8070
00:46
"if you can believe it" before or after a surprising statement. I got it for less
7
46800
7500
00:54
than five dollars, if you can believe it. If you can believe it, this thing cost
8
54300
5579
00:59
less than five dollars. A similar expression is "believe it or not" Believe
9
59879
8251
01:08
it or not, I think this face roller actually works.
10
68130
3270
01:11
I believe I've stopped some new wrinkles from appearing. Okay. You're probably
11
71400
7620
01:19
going to think that I buy a lot of frivolous things, but I want to show you
12
79020
4380
01:23
one more thing that I recently got. Members of my YouTube channel already
13
83400
4680
01:28
saw this in a bonus video about posture. It's a posture corrector. Call me crazy,
14
88080
7590
01:35
but I'm using it to help me stand up straight. Under a sweater no one can see it.
15
95670
6090
01:44
"Call me crazy" is a fun way to introduce something a
16
104060
4300
01:48
little shocking. It can be something you did or something you plan to do. Call me
17
108360
7230
01:55
crazy, but I bought one of those posture correctors. Call me crazy, but I'm going
18
115590
6840
02:02
to paint the whole house a new color. So here's something you may not know about
19
122430
7650
02:10
me. When I go to the pharmacy, I love to use coupons. Who doesn't like a
20
130080
5489
02:15
discount? 25% off everything, 40% off one item. Buy two, get one free. And other good
21
135569
8371
02:23
deals. I plan very carefully. Then I make one big trip. Would you believe it? I
22
143940
5730
02:29
can save anywhere between 10 and 40 dollars. I get really excited when I see
23
149670
5220
02:34
the total price drop down. "Would you believe it?" is a natural way to introduce
24
154890
8760
02:43
something surprising about yourself or someone else. Would you believe it? I
25
163650
5669
02:49
saved $40 at the pharmacy! Would you believe it? People are still going to the
26
169319
5760
02:55
beach during a lockdown. A similar expression is "you're never going to
27
175079
7981
03:03
believe it." "Going to" reduces to "gonna." You're never gonna believe it. You're
28
183060
6840
03:09
never going to believe it. I saved $40 today at the pharmacy! So
29
189900
5630
03:16
here are all the ways to introduce surprising news. Listen and repeat. Try to
30
196280
6130
03:22
follow my intonation and rhythm. If you can believe it... Believe it or not...
31
202410
13370
03:37
Would you believe it? You're never gonna believe it, but... Call me crazy, but...
32
217720
16790
03:57
So, what can you say when you receive surprising news? A friend says, "Believe it
33
237470
6270
04:03
or not, but I saw Jennifer Lopez at a store!" You don't quite believe that, so
34
243740
5610
04:09
you say, "No way!" Or maybe you do believe it, but it's still quite unexpected,
35
249350
7889
04:17
so you say, "Really?"
36
257239
4701
04:23
Your cousin surprises you with the news that he's just found a box of old family
37
263650
5410
04:29
photos that must be about 70 or 80 years old. You find this interesting and
38
269060
6180
04:35
surprising. You say, "Huh. You don't say!"
39
275240
5960
04:42
We also use "you don't say" sarcastically when the news isn't surprising at all.
40
282340
6180
04:48
A friend tells you, "Would you believe it? My cousin got a speeding ticket yesterday."
41
288520
5010
04:53
Your response, "Hmm. You don't say! Isn't that his third speeding ticket this year?"
42
293530
8220
05:03
Here's a fun task for you. I'll share a few different surprising stories that I
43
303730
5260
05:08
read about. You can retell the stories to a conversation partner. Use different
44
308990
5550
05:14
expressions from this lesson. Okay? First story. Believe it or not, this guy
45
314540
7020
05:21
in South Africa spent almost 80 days in a barrel on top of an 80-foot pole! He
46
321560
7260
05:28
was alone, but I think he did have his cell phone. Food was sent up to him every
47
328820
5190
05:34
day. Crazy, right? Second story. Would you
48
334010
7590
05:41
believe it? This guy in New York City used a drone to get the phone number of
49
341600
4980
05:46
a cute girl living in the apartment building across from his. He first saw
50
346580
6780
05:53
her on the rooftop, and after he got her phone number, they started texting. Now
51
353360
5220
05:58
they're dating. Third story. You're never gonna believe it, but I read about an
52
358580
7950
06:06
Australian man who managed to save a gecko that was drowning!
53
366530
5570
06:12
He found it in his drink at a pub, and he saved its life by performing CPR on it.
54
372100
6310
06:18
Pretty incredible, huh? Do you have an interesting and surprising story to tell?
55
378410
8159
06:26
Well, now you have some new expressions to share it. If you found this lesson
56
386569
4801
06:31
useful, please like and share the video. As always thanks for watching and happy studies!
57
391370
6530
06:39
Thank you to all the members of my
58
399700
1920
06:41
channel and, you Super and Truly Marvelous Members, look out for the next
59
401620
4630
06:46
bonus video! Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And try something
60
406250
8250
06:54
new! Download the apps Kiki Time and Hallo.
61
414500
3599
06:58
These are more ways I can help you learn English each and every week. And hey!
62
418099
5701
07:03
Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Turn on those notifications.
63
423800
6679
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7