Conversation Skills: Expressing Surprise in English 😯🤭

Hi everyone. It's Jennifer. I have a series of short lessons that I'd like to share with you.

We're going to make sure that you have a variety of ways to express a feeling or idea.

Variety will help your speech sound more natural.

Surprise is generally a strong emotion, and we often

express this feeling with the rise fall intonation pattern, as in...

Wow!

Oh!

Oh no!

It can be a good or bad surprise.

You can use a rise-fall intonation pattern when you say these expressions:

No way!

"No way" is like saying, "That can't be possible. There's no way that is true." No way!

You've got to be kidding me.

If you're kidding, you're joking.

You're kidding. You've got to be kidding me.

Another expression of surprise that's a little less common, but still in use is "Get out of here!"

You can also hear strong rising intonation when someone is very surprised,

particularly with a yes/no question, as in...

Really?

Seriously?

There's a third possible intonation pattern when we feel very surprised.

It's more like disbelief. We can use a strong slow fall, as in...

Wow.

You can use the strong slow fall when you say a variation of "wow" - Woah.

The strong slow fall a natural pattern when you say a moderate curse like, "Dang."

I presented that word in other

exclamations of surprise in my lesson on swearing and how not to curse.

So you could also say something like, "Good Lord."

Try that strong slow fall with the previous expressions: No way.

You've got to be kidding me.

This intonation pattern sounds like disbelief mixed with displeasure.

You'll definitely hear a negative tone when someone says "please"

very slowly with falling intonation.

It sounds like this.

Puh-leez.

Meaning, "Oh, please don't tell me that's the situation. Please don't say that's true." Puh-leez.

I'll give you a final expression of surprise. "I thought I'd seen everything."

This is ideal for a situation that you could never have imagined, something bizarre.

You can combine it with other expressions of surprise, for example:

Wow! And I thought I'd seen everything.

That is crazy! I thought I'd seen everything.

Here's a quick look again at the expressions we studied in this lesson.

Well, hopefully all the surprises in your future will be good ones.

That's all for now. I'll see you again soon for another lesson to boost your conversation skills.

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As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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