50 Useful Phrases In English (Intermediate English)

[Music] these 50 intermediate phrases are going to help you to improve your English speaking and your comprehension so let's get started the first phrases are all about giving advice so you could say it might be a good idea to turn the oven off or it might be a good idea to use a pencil instead of a pen just in case you make a mistake this sounds really quite polite and it's telling somebody what you would do which brings me on to the next phrase if I were you I would if I were you I would turn the oven off if I were you I would use a pencil instead of a pen just in case you make a mistake okay so that's two phrases you can use to give advice it might be a good idea to or if I were you I would now the next two phrases are all about asking for attention you could use these in the office or at home you could say can you spare a moment are you free can you spare a moment or you could say could you cast your eye over this for me that second phrase is all about asking someone to check your work for any mistakes just to make sure it reads well perhaps sometimes if I'm sending an important email or writing a post that I'm not sure about I might ask someone to cast their eye over it for me so could you cast your eyes over this for me please all right the next ones are asking for opinions so you might say where do you stand on or you could say what would you say if I told you so let's say we're talking about Paulo I might say where do you stand on the Trump administration so I'm just asking what's your general opinion about the Trump administration or what would you say if I told you that the UK we're going to leave the EU so I'm asking about your opinion on something of course the second one is probably going to be used with something that's not widely known or something you are considering so I might say to you what would you say if I told you I was going to quit YouTube if that was something I was considering of course I'm not so don't worry so those are asking for more opinions now the next phrases are giving approval or encouragement so you might say to someone yes you're on the right lines you're on the right lines that means you're going in the right direction maybe you need a little bit of help but you're on the right lines you're going in the right direction you have the right thoughts about something you have the right idea you're on the right lines or you might say give it your best shot that means you can do it just try your best give it your best shot give it your best shot now I would like to just take a moment to say a huge thank you to today's sponsor lingo de who despite the current global uncertainty have continued to support this channel for which I am incredibly grateful for and perhaps now would be a good time for you to consider levelling up your language skills with one of lingo discourses offering group and private lessons in English business English French German and Spanish and all available at CEF are levels from a1 up to c2 you'll be able to advance your language skills no matter what level you are currently at now the lessons are fully structured with additional downloadable course materials for you to use for revision and when you have completed a level then you'll receive a C our certificate which you can use in a job or university application now personally I've always enjoyed thoroughly enjoyed my lessons with lingo des mainly because what the teachers are fantastic but also because of the lesson structure I found that really helped me to learn a lot during my lessons but don't just take my word for it you can try it for yourself with a free 7-day trial all you have to do is click on that link below and check it out for yourself okay back to today's useful phrases so the next one is talking about things with optimism so if you're optimistic about something you could say you never know it might so for example if someone is depressed that something isn't happening you might say you never know it might happen or you could change it too you never know you might win so perhaps you are debating whether or not you should play the lottery and I say yeah you could do you never know you might win or you could change it to I you never know I might have a surprise for you oh you never know I might come back from my shopping trip with a little treat for you you never know I might okay the next optimistic phrase is to look on the bright side so particularly at the moment when things aren't so good in the in the world with everything that's going on you might save someone don't be down look on the bright side we have more time to spend with our families people are taking hand hygiene a lot more seriously we're working together globally to solve a global problem which might lead to better information sharing between our nations in the future so to look on the bright side is to find the positive in a negative situation and that's very similar to the next phrase which is every cloud has Silver Lining every cloud has a silver lining the cloud represents the negative situation and the little silver lining around it is obviously the Sun behind the cloud so there is a little silver lining around that cloud meaning there is Sun behind there somewhere there's sunshine positivity so you might hear some referring purely to the silver lining so they're taking that phrase and cutting it down a little and they might say well there is one silver lining I get to spend a lot of time with my partner because he can't work in the office he has to work from home okay so three phrases for you they're all on the subject of optimism now if we're going to be blocking somebody perhaps they're asking you questions that you just don't want to answer maybe they're too personal or too intrusive you could say to them mind your own business mind your own business I was told this a lot when I was a child I was very nosy as a child very inquisitive I was always asking questions and the grown-ups would constantly say to me mind your own business or never you mind is another bonus one they're never you mind mind your own business okay it means look after your own business don't worry about my business so mind your own business okay the next phrase along the same lines is I'm not at liberty to say this is very formal and something I would expect the representative of a company to say if someone is making a speech about a company's decisions or plan of action and then someone asks a question that they can't answer because they're not allowed to then they might say I'm not at liberty to say so this is definitely more formal okay moving on if you are disagreeing with somebody and you might say to them never in a million years so let's put it into context if I ask you if I ask you to do something that you really don't want to do and won't ever do so if I say to you would you ever consider speaking to your dad who you fell out with five years ago would you ever consider reconnecting reaching out to him making amends I might say never in a million years it means absolutely not never in a million years similar to that is the phrase over my dead body now these are very informal phrases especially over my dead body you wouldn't use this in a formal situation and it means that absolutely will not happen I will have to die first and you'll have to step over my dead body for that to happen so if I say to you can i one day I might come and live with you I'd say over my dead body you're not living with me my house is far too small that's a terrible example but I hope you get the point or you might just say in your dreams in your dreams that might be something you dream but it's not going to happen it will only happen in your dreams not in real life so someone might say hey I want to take you out for a drink let's go and have that's gonna have dinner sometime I might say in your dreams in your dreams not in real life I don't think so okay so next is about cheering somebody up so if someone's feeling quite down you might say to them it's not the end of the world but actually when thinking about it you're you're belittling their problem if they're upset about something you're saying come on it's not that bad it's not like the end of the world but it is meant to be a bit more comforting than that see so it's not the end of the world it'll be okay you could tell someone simply to lighten up if they are being too serious or being too negative then you might say come on lighten up they'll be a fine lighten up but lighten up can also be seen as a little bit abrasive a bit some offensive I guess if someone tells you to lighten up then they were saying you've been too serious lighten up come on so sometimes it can feel like they're not very caring about your woes okay another thing you can say is and this is very comforting time is a great healer so we talked about things being very painful when we're experiencing emotion but that pain that hurt can heal with time and so we talked about time being a great healer if someone is really upset give it time times a great healer you will feel better in time and if someone that's particularly upset because of the loss of a love in their life so I'm talking about a relationship breaking down maybe they've been dumped or maybe their partners run off with somebody else then you could say to them there are plenty more fish in the sea and this means there are other people other nice people that they will one day be very happy with okay let's move on so you could ask about someone's progress with a project you could say how are you getting on how are you getting on so I'm just asking how is the project going how are you getting on oh it's all going well thank you and you could say how is it going how's it going now how's it going could also mean how are you if you just bump into someone hey how's it going what could mean how are you but if they're working on something and that you've previously discussed and you go away and you come back you might say how's it going while they're working on it and that would mean how is the project progressing or how is your work going how's it going I'll say yes sir it's going quite slowly actually stop disturbing me go away okay the next phrases are all about asking for approval so you might say to someone would you mind if or do you think anyone would mind if this happens let's say that you want to play your music to practice a dance routine so you want to play your music loud to practice practice your dance routine in a public area so you might go out someone and say would you mind if I play my music to practice my dance or do you think anyone would mind if I play my music to practice my dance and that way you're just politely saying is it okay for me to play music here in this area will it disturb you would you mind if or do you think anyone would mind if okay you could also say do you reckon I ought to and this is it's not so much asking for approval actually more asking for advice so maybe I've labeled this one wrong but you're asking someone if it if you should do something so do you think do you reckon means do you think do you reckon I ought to say sorry to my partner for being rude earlier do you reckon I ought to say sorry or not should I let him come to me or should I go Tim do you reckon I ought to go to him first so it's kind of more asking for their advice rather than their approval yeah I've mislabeled that one never mind okay so the next one is asking for information you could say I don't suppose you know what time the train arrives do you so I'm making it here a question tag I don't suppose you know how to get to the library do you I don't suppose you know if there's anything to do with a toddler in this area do you okay or you could also say you don't happen to know this thing do you you don't happen to know what time the train arrives do you or you don't happen to know if there's anything interesting to do in this area do you okay so the next one is all about delaying so if someone's asked you to do something you might say I'm a bit tied up at the moment now a bit tied up at the moment it means I'm busy doing other things so your tie it's like you're physically tied up but because you're busy doing other things I'm a bit tied up at the moment ask me later well you could say give me a chance or you can take the a away and just say give me chance any chance so imagine you just walked in the door you've had a busy day shopping you've got groceries and all sorts of supplies and you've got loads of heavy shopping bags you've got to get in and make lunch for the family and you've got so much to do and you're feeling all sweaty and flustered and as soon as you walk in the door someone's like can you can you just take a phone call and tell the gas man all about the problem with the boiler okay give me a chance I've just walked in I've got to make lunch I've got to put the shopping away give me a chance okay you could also say I'm up to my neck in it or I'm up to my neck and work or I'm up to my neck in bills or I'm up to my neck in debt so to be up to your neck and it means you have so much of it yeah so I'm up to my neck in work this is something I might say to people who write to me and ask me for help I get a lot of emails from students asking me for help with their with their English language struggles and I might say to them I'd love to help you but I'm up to my neck in work at the moment I've got my hands full which is another one we could use I've got my hands full at the moment with my son and my work and everything else that I have to do okay so those are some really common and useful phrases to remember I've got my hands full I'm up to my neck in it give me a chance okay so when something goes wrong these phrases of what you might use if you're showing dismay so if something goes wrong someone's done something that you don't agree with then you might use these for is what on earth did you do that for what on earth did you do that for it's basically saying why did you do that but showing that you're really unhappy about it what on earth did you do that for you could just say to them what were you thinking what were you thinking perhaps someone comes out of their house wearing something really inappropriate for the weather or for the event that they're attending you could just look at them and say what were you thinking when you got dressed this morning why are you wearing that you could also say if someone says something bad you could say you've put your foot in it now or simply you've put your foot in it or I could say I've put my foot in it I just put my foot in it so to say something that creates problems means that you've put your foot in it you could also tell somebody that that was uncalled for if someone does something that you think is bad and unnecessary then you could say that was uncalled for it means that wasn't fair that wasn't needed perhaps I say something quite horrible to somebody in the middle of an argument something that's really personal and upsetting to them and they burst into tears and walk out of the room someone we should turn to me and say that was uncalled for that wasn't nice that was unfair that was uncalled for okay the next phrases are about being lucky you might say to someone thank your lucky stars that something didn't happen so you say oh thank you lucky stars that it didn't rain today because you forgot your umbrella you didn't bring your coats so thank you lucky stars but it didn't rain yeah the next one is that was close or you could say that was a close call if if you narrowly avoided disaster then you'd use this phrase that was close so imagine something very physical like you're about to step out onto the road and then someone grabs you and pulls you back because a bus drives but passed very fast and you nearly stepped out in front of the bus then you would go oh that was close well that was a close call so you narrowly avoided disaster like arriving just on time for a lesson or just on time to get onto a train that's about to leave and you have to be on that particular train you'd say oh that was a close call we nearly missed it it was nearly a disaster you could say to someone it's just as well that something did happen it's just as well that or that something didn't happen it's just as well that your mother didn't come today because actually we've just had a burst pipe and there's a water leak in the house and the house is a mess and we have no heating now so it's just as well that so it means it's good that something did or didn't happen it's just as well that you were at home when the lockdown was started it's just as well that you were at home with a lockdown started it's just as well that you didn't book a holiday before the pandemic yeah so it's saying it's good that something did or didn't happen you could also just say fortunately for you this didn't happen or fortunately for you this did happen you could change it also to fortunately for us unfortunately for me fortunately for him depending on who is the fortunate one so I'd say fortunately for me I'm able to continue working at home fortunately for my son he has his mum and dad at home so it means that that person is fortunate okay the next phrases are all about being relieved it's about relief ah for you that must be a weight off your mind that must be a weight off your mind so if someone's talking about a prob being resolved then you would say to them that must be a weight off your mind saying that must relieve you from that pressure that worry that you were carrying if you say about yourself it was a huge weight off my mind it means I'm no longer worrying about that particular thing it's a weight off my mind some people talk about weight on their shoulders in the same way it must be a big weight off your shoulders or a weight off your back even that's a big weight off my back so any idea at any thought of carrying the weight of worry so weight on your mind weight on your shoulders weight on your back okay you could also say oh that's one less thing to worry about yeah maybe if you are organizing a trip and you are told that someone else is going to take care of the catering or someone else will take care of the travel organising then you say oh well that's one less thing for me to worry about that's one less thing for us to worry about or you could simply use the phrase thank God for that thank God for that but if you feel uncomfortable using the word God that you could say thank goodness thank goodness for that thank goodness for that okay the next phrases are all about saying sorry now of course you can just say I'm sorry but there are other ways to say it too you could say please excuse my ignorance I didn't realize that so this is something you'd say if you have said something that's incorrect to somebody who is now offended by your ignorance perhaps we're talking about culture or people from different countries and you make an assumption about somebody from another country and say oh everyone from this country does this or everyone in that country likes this you make a statement that's false and actually a little bit insensitive and that person then corrects you you'd go oh please excuse my ignorance I didn't realize please excuse my ignorance I didn't realize so that is how you would apologize in a nice way you could also say I'm sorry how thoughtless of me how thoughtless of me like this morning I made myself a cup of tea and I didn't make my partner a cup of tea and when he came down he's like hey where's my cup of tea our house I'm sorry how thoughtless of me I didn't even think so I was thoughtless at that moment I didn't think I'm sorry all right the next phrases are all about waiting we all have to wait sometimes whether it's for the bus or for a letter to arrive or for your food to cook in the oven but you might say we'll have to wait and see we'll have to wait and see now this can be used in two ways you can either use it to tell someone that we just won't know until time passes so if they say mummy when when will we go back to school and at the moment that's uncertain so I might say we'll have to wait and see I don't know yet time will tell that's another one time will tell we'll have to wait and see but have to wait and see can also be used if you know something but you're making someone else wait to know the answer for example if you've bought someone a present for Christmas and they're really impatient and they're asking you did you buy me a bike for Christmas did you buy me a bike for Christmas did you did you buy me a bike did you buy me a bike you'll have to wait and see you'll have to wait and see okay you can also use the phrase time waits for no man time waits for no man and this just basically means that time will continue to tick and no one can stop time not one person time waits for no man you could say I can't wait for something to happen now this is actually a positive thing but in most cases and usually it's used if you're very excited about something I can't wait until my birthday or I can't wait for the weekend because this is happening yeah so I can't wait usually used in a positive way unless you're perhaps deciding to do something drastic and someone says no don't do that I can't wait I have to do it yeah but usually it's used in a positive situation you might say I keep putting something off so often we have things in our life that we don't want to do whether it's chores around the house or dealing with bills or doing our tax returns or something there's something usually that we don't want to do and so we might put it off to put something off in this context means to delay it and so you might say to someone I have to do this today I keep putting it off but it needs to happen today otherwise I will get into trouble if I don't do my taxes now the government will will find me and tell me off so I keep putting it off I must do it you'll also be aware that people use the phrase sooner or later quite often sooner or later and it just means that at some point something is going to happen we don't know when it might happen soon it might happen later but either way it is going to happen sooner or later you'll need to eat sooner or later you'll need to sleep sooner or later everything will go back to normal okay all right so the next phrase is all about being worried so you can't just say I'm stressed I'm worried I'm concerned but there are a couple of phrases that are a little bit more advanced and the first one is I'm beside myself and this meets all very worried I'm beside myself it's almost like your soul is not in your body and it's next to you because it's so worried I'm beside myself with worry I'm beside myself this I would hold this back for very very serious situations perhaps if your pet dog goes missing and you're really worried okay so I'm beside myself means that you're incredibly worried about something you could also say if you're stressed about something that's coming up that hasn't happened yet you could say I'm dreading it or I'm absolutely dreading it perhaps it's an exam that you are not very confident about or maybe you have to go to have a procedure a medical procedure and you're worried about the pain or the recovery process perhaps you have to go and fire somebody and you know it's going to be an awful experience you'd say I'm dreading it I'm absolutely dreading it I'm really not looking forward to it's going to be awful and on that very negative note I can't believe every ended with that one that's the end of this particular lesson those are your 50 useful intermediate phrases if you have any questions about any of those then please do put it in the comment section below if you're not already a subscriber then please do click Subscribe and the Bell notification so you know when I release a new video or go live now if you do have a few spare moments then you could check out one of these lessons and I would highly recommend once again the lingo de language courses you've got nothing to lose for taking a free 7-day trial if nothing else you've got a couple of free lessons alright until next time guys take care

Channel: English Like A Native

Views: 77,398

Keywords: British English, English Lesson, Learn English, English Like a native, Anna English, useful phrases in english, english, english conversation, english expressions, english language, english lesson, english teacher, english vocabulary, phrases to use in conversation, useful english phrases, useful english phrases for daily use, 50 useful english phrases, common english phrases, common phrases, british pronunciation

Id: k2wEbiCYcv4

Length: 30min 41sec (1841 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 18 2020