EXCELLENT phrases for daily conversation in English | Phrases to express doubt

hi there this is Harry and welcome back to my Advanced English lessons with Harry and in this particular lesson we're looking at phrases to express doubt and uncertainty so English phrases Advanced English phrases to express doubt and or uncertainty as always I'm going to go through them with you there are 10 in the list and I'll go back and I'll give you particular examples of how we might use them but before we start with the lesson if you do happen to like this particular lesson then if you could please like the video and as always if you could subscribe to the channel because it really really helps okay let's get back to the lesson and as we said today's lesson Advanced English phrases to express doubt and uncertainty so how do we use them in particular so the first one I don't know about that well when we are not sure about something we are uncertain so we would just simply say well I don't know about that so if somebody asks you a question question the timetable for the the buses when does the the train leave or when does it get here or when does the bus leave or when does the bus get here well okay I always take the car I walk so I don't know about that I don't know anything about that and I I really need to check I'll check it on the internet will you be here in two days time at the same time if I call I don't know about that because I'm not always here just happened to be working from home for a couple of days but in two days time I might have to go to the office so you need to write to me in advance or text me or send me a WhatsApp message I don't know about that I don't know whether I will be available and then if you want to express a little bit more uncertainty then we can use the word really I'm really not sure about that so you're stressing we're using that word really to stress I'm really not sure about that do you think we should sell that Cutlery we have it's uh it was a gift I know many many years ago but we never use it I'm really not sure about that I want to keep them I'm really not sure about that so we're giving that extra bit of emphasis you're not sure about it I'm really not sure about it so you put in a little bit more stress would you like to go on on a holiday let's go for a sun holiday I'm really not sure about that see all the news about the big long long queues at the airport I mean I don't want to be going to the airport three hours before the flight I certainly don't want to be standing in the queue and having to wait for hours to go through the Customs why don't we just take a staycation we'll stay local so I'm really not sure about something means they're almost 100 I'm really not sure now I'm not 100 sure so here when we're virtually getting the stage where I say I'm not 100 sure but I think I saw Michael in town today I'd spot him anywhere that walk you know the way he swaggers yeah so I'm not 100 sure of course but I think I saw let's send him a text and ask him did he get here early so I'm not 100 sure but you're almost I'm not 100 sure but I think we're going to get an extra couple of days holiday this year don't ask me why I just heard a couple of rumors some of the girls were talking about it over coffee so I'm not 100 sure but I wouldn't be surprised if we get an announcement over the next few days now when something is not certain and people don't agree with each other and somebody has a very different point of view we can use the Expression well that's debatable okay and when somebody says well that's debatable that means exactly what it is I might have one of opinion but you might have a different one so it's debatable which of us is right and which of us is wrong so that's debatable yeah we have to think about it somebody might say well look holiday at home is a great thing it's good for the local economy it boosts the hotels after those long periods of lockdowns during covid there are lots and lots of reasons why we should all consider staycations and you might have a very different opinion well that's debatable usually when I go on holidays it rains and I come home feeling more miserable than I did before I left so it's very debatable it's debatable weather staycations are good yes of course they're good for the economy but what about me what are my personal feelings I want to sit on a beach feel the sun in my back but I'm not sure I'm going to get that with a staycation okay so that's debatable I find that highly unlikely so here again we're expressing almost certainty that something is not going to happen Okay I find it highly unlikely that he would be visiting the city without telling us I find it highly unlikely that he would come back without us knowing he's unlikely to book into a hotel he'd call us even if he's going to meet his friends first so I find it highly unlikely that he came and he didn't tell us that he was coming I find it highly unlikely that the boss is going to give us two extra days holidays why would he huh so I mean when is he going to give us those days if he's going to get them at all it'll probably be at Christmas time when nothing happens anyway so I find it highly unlikely that he's going to give us two extra day extra days holiday during the summer I find it highly unlikely so I can't really see that happening I have a few doubts well when we have a few doubts that we don't have lots and lots of doubts we have a few doubts about something or so we're not certain I have a few doubts about you know what to cook for the weekend we seem to have the same food all the time so why don't we try something completely different I have a few doubts whether we can offer them the same food that we offered the last time they visited us so let's try and think again come up with something a little bit more original or a little bit more unusual I have a few doubts about that hotel we booked I was checking it on the internet and the reports okay you can't always believe them but they're they're not great they're telling us that the the service wasn't good that there was a smell in the swimming pool and okay we're going to go away for a few days I'd really want to go to a place where there won't be any questions over the service or won't be any questions about the swimming pool we want to really enjoy ourselves so I have a few doubts can we think about it and perhaps look around and see as there's something else a little better with a few better reviews I have a few doubts are you certain that would work so question mark here you're you're not sure because you just have some doubts are you certain that would work so you're talking to your boss there's been a few problems recently with the launch of the product you don't want to postpone the new launch any further because the competition are likely to be doing something so you really have to come to the market as quickly as possible so the boss comes up with a solution as to what they're going to do it's going to involve some social media aspects and we haven't tried it before but it's why not it's something different so you ask the question are you certain that would work and the boss might say well of course I'm not certain but the reports from the marketing company we've used is that everybody's using social media these days so we're going to have to start sometime so we might as well start with this particular launch it won't be the main focus but we can involve some aspect of social media Okay so am I certain that would work no I'm not certain but unless you have a better idea I'm not quite sure what we'll do and we don't want to postpone the launch completely so are you certain that would work the question well I'm not certain but it should I'm of two minds about this well when we are of two minds about something we're not quite sure we can't make our minds up either do this or do that and when we have two minds it means we're stuck in the middle if we do it this way that will happen if we do it the other way something else might happen so I'm of two minds I'm of two minds whether we should let David go back to that school next year his results really haven't improved much in the last couple of years and he's getting to the stage now when he really really has to start getting good results if he wants to get marks to get him into University some of two minds whether we should not look for another school what do you think so the great debate as to which school to send the children to things are up in the air Well when things are up in the air it means they're not on the ground and means they're uncertain okay so things are up in the air at the moment at work because there's a big review going on the head office guys have arrived they're doing doing their what they call a Roots analysis of the the business they're trying to find out how to improve things things a little bit up in the air at the moment so I don't really want to ask for that promotion because well I want to make sure that I've got a job first of all all so we have to see what happens so if you're if everything is up in the air at the moment it means that things are a little bit uncertain so it's up in the air with things at work it's up in the air what we're going to do about the university place because first of all she has to get the right marks and if she gets the correct marks or the relevant marks well then we can start looking at places so it's a bit up in the air at the moment as to which university she's going to go to so you have to sit down with the daughter look at the exams she's taking what are expectations in terms of the marks then look at the University to see what their entrance levels are like and so she will know then what Mark she has to aim for so that she can get entry into that particular University so yeah which university she's going to well it's a bit up in the air at the moment we'll have to wait and see and then finally I want to sleep in it well yes this is a classic situation when you don't want to make an immediate or instant decision you want time to think about something you don't want to be put under pressure because people say come on you know you must have an opinion what do you think what's your view yeah and they keep pushing and pushing they say okay look just leave it with me what I'd like to do is sleep on it for a few days and give you my considered opinion later I want to look at the pros and cons I want to look at the advantages disadvantages I want to see it from both sides and then I make a decision so don't put me under pressure I'll make my decision but I want to sleep on it okay so when you want to sleep on something you want to give yourself buy yourself time give yourself a little bit of time to think it over and as you know often when you sleep on something you wake up in the morning with the solution okay so that's what you want to do you want to sleep on it okay so these are 10 particular phrases to expect Express doubt and uncertainty so they're Advanced phrases okay but you can practice a few of them you won't need or you won't remember all of them but try a few of them when you're in the situation when there is some doubt in your mind about a decision you want to make or the decision you have to make or an opinion you have to give on a particular problem that you or a member of the family have so let let me go through them one more time I don't know about that just don't I don't know about that I'm really not sure about that a little bit more stress I'm really not sure about it so I really need a bit more time to think I'm really not sure about that I'm not 100 sure but I could almost say I am I'm not 100 sure but that's debatable so when you're in two minds that's debatable I find that highly unlikely so that's again almost 100 I find that highly unlikely that he would do that or say that I find it highly unlikely that the government is going to call for an election why would they do it in the middle of the summer I have a few doubts or not a lot I have a few doubts but I'd like to discuss them I have a few doubts are you certain that would work I'm not sure it's not something I had considered are you certain that would work so you're looking for confirmation I have two minds about it so I'm really stuck in the middle here I can see the positives but I can also see the negatives of two minds ah things are up in the air just there's no certainty nobody knows things are up in the air and then finally yeah look I want to sleep on it I want to think about it I want to get the best solution so I really like a couple of days so let me sleep on it and let me give you my answer tomorrow or the day after okay so 10 phrases to express your doubts or your uncertainty practice them try them out if you have any problems come back to me you'll get me on www.english Lesson by skype.com always happy to hear from you and as always I'm delighted you watched and you listened and join me again soon

Channel: Learn English with Harry

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Keywords: advanced english vocabulary, learn english speaking, how to give advice in english, phrases for giving advice, learn english with harry, how to speak better english, english speaking skills, advanced english lessons, c1 english lessons, speaking english practice, english for daily conversations, spoken english phrases, english phrases for daily conversation, express doubt and uncertainty, business english lesson, formal english, informal english

Id: Y__k1dLo-eo

Length: 13min 29sec (809 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 01 2023