Hello. Welcome to the lesson of giving your opinion.
My name is Ronnie. Do me a favor. Go to YouTube. Go to my page, EnglishLessons4U,
and subscribe to my channel. Watch out for imitators. I'm the real deal. Be careful. I'm
going to teach you guys how to give your opinion. Now, you might think, "Ronnie, I already
know how to give my opinion." If someone says, "Hey, do you like pizza?" And I say,
"It's so-so." Your opinion is "so-so"? Guess what, that's a really bad answer. So I want
to teach you some techniques to continue a conversation when you have to give your opinion.
This happens all the time. Maybe you went to a new restaurant or you saw a movie or
you went to a new pub or bar or restaurant and you want to tell people, "Oh, my god, it was great!
I went to the new restaurant that opened up." And your friend says, "How
was it?" And you say, "Okay." What kind of answer is "okay"? Was it good? Was it bad?
Did you get diarrhea? Did you like it? What did you eat? So when someone asks you your
opinion, instead of giving short, one-word answers -- "Yes." "I liked it." "It was great."
-- you need to expand, and you need to give more information. Here is a list
of things that you should not say when someone asks your opinion. -"So?
How was the movie?" -"So-so." What the hell does "so-so" mean? "So" means "yes" and "no"
at the same time? If someone said to me, "It's so-so", I think it's bad. Don't say that.
Maybe your friend and you saw the same movie, and someone asks your friend, "Hey, how was
the movie?" Your friend said, "Well, it was a little boring, and there wasn't a lot of action.
I didn't really like it that much." The conversation naturally would go to you,
and you'd go, "Same." Same what? Please don't do this. It's so frustrating when you're trying
to have a conversation with someone. Don't say "same". You are an individual. Please
give the person your opinion. You can say something like, "Well, I agree. It was boring,
but..." -- add your own spice of life; add your own opinion. So instead of saying "same",
you can say, "I agree", and then add your information. The next one.
Now, if you're a little shy, and someone offers you something, for example,
"Would you like to have free English lessons?" "Sure" is a good answer. But if you're giving
your opinion, for example, "Did you like the new restaurant that you went to last night?"
"Sure." "Sure" is a really, really bad answer. What, again, you want to do
is expand in your answer. This is the worst thing you can say if someone
asks you your opinion or if they ask you a question about something. As an example, someone
might say, -"Ronnie, are you from Canada?" -"Of course." "Well, excuse me for asking." You
only are going to use "of course" if someone has asked you a very, very stupid question or
a question that they already know the answer to. As an example, you could say, "Ronnie,
you're from Canada. Do you have red hair?" And I'd say, "Of course I do. You can see
it." So when you answer "of course", it does not mean the same as "yes". "Of course" is
a very, very rude way to answer someone's question if they ask you something. So please
be very careful of this. "Are you enjoying your English lessons?" "Of course!" Good answer.
"Maybe." "Do you like Ronnie, teacher?" "Maybe." Maybe? What does "maybe" mean? So "maybe",
"sure ", "same", "so-so" -- garbage. Don't use them. "Maybe" -- are you not going to
tell me the answer? Is it a secret? Don't say "maybe". Another one that
a lot of you guys say is unnecessary unless you want to exaggerate something.
So let's say, again, that you went to a new pizza shop, and you ordered some
really spicy pasta -- at a pizza store. That's okay. So you get the pizza or the pasta; it's
really spicy, and you eat it, and your friend goes, "Hey how's your spicy pasta?" You're
going to say, "It's spicy." You do not need to say, "It's spicy for me" because you are
the one talking. So you can just say, "It's spicy." Now, the way that we would use this
correctly is to exaggerate something. Example: If you're having pasta that's really, really
spicy, and your friend is having the same pasta dish, maybe your friend is eating it
and goes, "This is not spicy for me." You're exaggerating that one is spicy and one isn't.
So you're eating it; you're dying; you're crying; your face is turning red; you say,
"God, this is spicy." Your friend's, like, "This isn't spicy for me." So you're exaggerating
your point. Be careful about this one. So these ones: Don't use them. This one:
Only if you're exaggerating a point. These -- are the good ones. These are the good guys.
These ones don't exist anymore. Sometimes, people ask you a conversation or
ask you a question in a conversation that you have never even thought about before in your life.
Instead of you saying, "I don't know", you're going to do things like this: "I
don't know, but let me think." As an example: "Do you think that in Canada, we should have
drinking allowed on the streets?" Because in Canada, in Ontario, it's illegal. You cannot
drink alcohol in the streets. Maybe in your country you can drink everywhere -- you're
lucky -- and you've never thought about this concept of not being able to drink somewhere,
so it's a new idea. The police are coming to get me. They know that I have been
drinking in the streets. Here they come. They didn't catch me. I've still got my Canada Dry.
So if you have ever been thinking about drinking in Canada, you're more than welcome to drink Canada Dry.
It's pop -- soda pop. This is not a beer unfortunately. If you'd like to
buy me a beer, I wouldn't mind. So if you have to give your opinion on something, and
you have never thought about it before, you can say, "I don't know, but let me think... I
think drinking in Canada should be allowed on the street." This gives you enough time to
think about your opinion. Instead of saying, "I don't know" and ending your conversation,
you're going to actually give yourself time to think about it. You can even
say this: "I've never thought about that before, but..." -- and again, you're
going to have time to think about your opinion. This is a doozy: if someone asks you something
that you don't want to tell them the truth about. For example, maybe you go to your friend's
house for dinner, and your friend makes you a dinner that you didn't really like. You
don't want to tell the person that the dinner was "so-so" or "sure, I liked it" or "maybe I
liked it" or "of course I liked your dinner". You can use this: "It was interesting." -"How
was the movie last night?" -"Well, it was interesting." This phrase is very, very useful.
"Interesting" usually has a positive meaning. It usually means something that you think made you think.
We can say this. So, "Wow, that was an interesting topic you talked about."
But when it's -- you're asked about your opinion of something, if something is "interesting",
it kind of means that you didn't like it. Please be careful when you use this because you
better know that engvid.com is interesting and not "interesting". Be careful. It has two meanings.
But depending on how you deliver it, it can be good. Good example: -"How was
the dinner?" -"It was interesting." People think that it was positive. If your facial
expression and your intonation is, "It was interesting", they're going to know something is wrong.
So words and facial expression -- be careful. Sometimes they're positive;
sometimes they're negative. The next time someone asks you your opinion in
a conversation, please do not give one-word answers or these crazy, stupid, really, really bad answers.
Please try and give your opinion. If you need time to think about it,
you can use these expressions. Tell me what you think of this
video, and be honest. Bye.
