10 Must-Know English Phrases that You're Going to use Again and Again [Giving Opinions]

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- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.

And today we are going to look at 10 phrases

that you can use to give your opinion in English.

So you're going to be using these phrases

again and again if you learn them properly.

So I'm going to give you the phrases,

lots of examples, and also, be sure

to listen for the intonation when I saw these phrases.

Because that is going to help you express yourself

more fluently in English.

And in addition to being able to express yourself

more freely, you're also going to be able

to better understand native English speakers

when they talk, in conversations, in movies,

and when you listen to podcasts, too.

Now stay until the end because I have a question for you.

So let's get started with number one.

The first one is I couldn't agree more.

Or I couldn't disagree more.

So this is telling someone

that you actually agree with them in a strong way

or disagree with them in a strong way.

For example, if somebody says,

"Football or soccer is the worst sport in the world."

I say, "I couldn't disagree more."

I couldn't disagree more, it's the best sport in the world.

But if someone said to me, "Lionel Messi

"is the best player of our generation."

I would say, "I couldn't agree more."

I couldn't agree more.

So this is a great one to use.

If you want to tell somebody that you strongly agree

with their opinion or if you strongly disagree.

I couldn't agree more, I couldn't disagree more.

The next one is quite simple,

but it can also be very flexible.

So it is or it was.

It is good, it is bad, it is terrible.

It was awful, it was amazing.

So let's say I go out with some friends

and my wife asks me in the morning,

"How was last night, how was last night?"

I can say, "Oh, it was awful.

"It was awful, nobody showed up.

"We had a couple of drinks here and there.

"There was a fight, there was a lot of violence downtown.

"We couldn't get a taxi, it was awful."

Alternatively, I could say, "It was amazing.

"Everybody showed up.

"We had such a good time.

"There was no violence downtown.

"We saw lots of people that we knew.

"We had some amazing food.

"And then we got home about one a.m.

"It was incredible."

If you want to say something is in between good or bad,

you can say, "It's okay."

For example, "How is that new restaurant?"

"Um, it's okay, it's okay."

Another way to say this with different intonation is,

"It's okay, it's okay."

And a third way is to say, "It's okay, it's okay."

Now the next one is using would or wouldn't

to give your opinion about what somebody should do.

So you can say, for example,

"I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't do that."

Or "I'd do it, I'd do it."

Another football example is you're watching a game

and you don't agree about a position.

For example, Ronaldo on the field and you say,

"I wouldn't play him out wide.

"I would play him as a striker, as a central striker.

"I wouldn't play him out wide in this game."

Another example is your friend says,

"I'm gonna quit my job and just play computer games all day

"because I just want to do what I want to do."

And you say, "I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't do that.

"I would think about this a little bit more first

"before you make this decision.

"I wouldn't do that."

The next one is think, okay, and we can use this

in two main ways, think.

We can use it to talk about

what your opinion is about something.

But you can also use it to give predictions

for the future as well.

For example, somebody new has started at your workplace

and everybody's talking about him and saying,

"What is he like?

"Do you think he's okay?

"Do you think he's a nice guy?

"Do you think he's going to do well here?"

Asking about your prediction for the future

and what you think.

And you can say, "I think he's nice, I think he's nice.

"I think he's gonna do okay here.

"I think he's gonna do okay here."

Another common example is you're thinking about where to go

for your next stop, you're downtown.

You've been to a couple of restaurants

and somebody says, "Let's go here next."

And you can say, "I think it'll be closed now.

"I think it will be closed now."

And another football example, "I think that Liverpool

"are going to go through a tough spell soon."

So I think they're going to lose some games

in the near future.

I think Liverpool are going to through a tough spell soon.

An example that I often say on this channel is,

"I think you're going to enjoy this lesson.

"I think you're going to find this useful."

So I think is a really good one to learn.

And if you go to my website, there'll be a link

in the description, I'll leave some more examples

with think because it's such a great one to use.

So get those examples, internalize them,

and then use them in everyday English.

The next one is I'd say, okay.

So I would say is contracted to I'd say.

Now we use this when we want to give an opinion

without being too strong.

Where we want to soften the opinion a little bit.

The first one is this, I'm not a doctor,

but I'd say that you need to go to the hospital right now.

I'm not a doctor, but I'd say

you need to go to the hospital right now.

Or I'm not a doctor, but I'd say

that that sounds quite dangerous.

I'd say that that sounds quite dangerous.

And if you just want to agree with somebody,

you can say, "I'd say so, I'd say so."

The next one is one of my favorites

and you can use this when you

want to give evidence for your opinion.

And it's used a lot when people are debating certain things,

like policy or which food items are best for you,

anything really, when it comes to health

or anything that affects public policy.

So I'm gonna share my screen

and give you some examples of this.

Studies show that, studies show that.

So I've just put studies show that into Google

and we're going to look at some of the headlines.

Studies show that random acts of kindness are healthy.

So they did a study to test this,

to see if random acts of kindness are healthy.

So if you're having an argument with somebody

or a debate, you can say, "Well, it's good to be nice

"to people because studies show

"that random acts of kindness are healthy."

Studies show that wealthy and powerful

more likely to lie.

Studies show that pets in the workplace are good business.

Studies show that women like psychopaths, wow.

So you can see, you can actually

just do this for yourself to have a look at studies.

But if you're having a debate with somebody,

you can then use this knowledge

as a way to give a stronger argument.

So you can say, "Studies show that this is healthy for you."

Or, "Studies show that children should do this every day."

The next one is very British

and I think they use it in Australia, as well.

And it's this, I reckon, I reckon.

Now I've stopped saying this as much

because I live in the U.S. now,

but I used to say this all the time,

I reckon, and it's another way to say I think, I think.

I reckon, for example, at work you might say,

"I reckon this'll work, I reckon this'll work."

This new marketing campaign, I reckon this will work.

Now listen to this one carefully

because it uses relaxed pronunciation, okay.

So let's say that you are throwing a party

and you're thinking about who is going to come to the party

or not, and you talk about David.

Now David doesn't always come to parties.

He says he'll come, but he doesn't usually come.

But today you have a feeling.

And you ask your friend, "Ja reckon he'll come?"

Ja reckon he'll come?

Now this is short for do you reckon.

Ja reckon, ja reckon he'll come?

So you can see how much that has been contracted.

Now I made a lesson on this so I'll leave a link to that

in the description for you to watch.

And another football example is,

I reckon we'll get beat today.

I just have this feeling, I reckon we'll get beat today.

The next one is really good because it's used in a way

so that you can give your opinion,

where you want to acknowledge what somebody says,

but really you want to give your opinion.

I see what you're saying, but.

I see what you're saying means I understand your opinion.

I understand your thought process here.

I see what you're saying, but.

And again, it just means, I'm listening to you,

but my opinion's going to be stronger than yours.

Now when my friend and I, Rodrigo, had a debate

about who was the best player out of Messi and Ronaldo,

I'm sure one of us said, "I see what you're saying,

"but Messi is better here."

I see what you're saying about Ronaldo.

I understand your opinion, but Messi is better.

Now you can also say, "I don't see what you're saying."

I don't see what you're saying,

which means I don't understand your opinion at all.

I don't see what you're saying.

Now the next one is a good example

of British understatement, okay.

Where you can say something like,

"It wasn't the best movie, it wasn't the best movie."

This means the movie is terrible.

It wasn't the best movie means it's terrible.

But in British English we like to

understate things like that and not be quite as direct.

So it wasn't the best movie.

Or talking about football,

we're not the best team at the moment.

We're not the best team at the moment,

which means we're terrible at the moment.

Another example is saying about David at work,

"Well, he's not the most polite person in the world."

Which means, he's really rude.

He's not the most polite person in the world.

Or if somebody asks you about that new restaurant,

instead of saying it was awful, you can say,

"It wasn't the best food I've ever had."

And the next one is in my experience,

which is where you're using your experience

to give your opinion extra strength.

So for example, in my experience,

people don't stick with a goal for long enough.

So I talk a lot about goals, especially in my book,

"The 5-Step Plan for English Fluency"

and I can say, "In my experience,

"people don't stick with goals long enough."

SO they don't continue with their goals

for a long enough period of time.

In my experience, it's really hard

for people to give up smoking.

So I have been around a lot of people who smoke

and I can say, "In my experience,

"it seems really difficult for people to give up smoking."

So those are 10 phrases that we can use

to give our opinion in English.

Now it's time for the question and for you to practice.

So look at this example.

A friend says that he wants to quit his job

and play computer games instead.

What do you say to him?

Use the phrases that we've used in this lesson

to help you, so what do you say to him?

And leave your answers below.

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Okay, thank you so much for watching.

If you have found this useful,

then please like and share it

and I'll speak to you soon, bye-bye.

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