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Hello, hello.
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Welcome to today's live English lesson here on the Speak English with Vanessa YouTube
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channel.
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I'm Vanessa, and today we're going to be talking about using advanced sentence structure specifically
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to ask polite questions.
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So, I hope that today you'll be able to use this English concept and as you have conversations,
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hopefully you're having English conversations, you'll be able to use this spontaneously and
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naturally and you'll be able to speak advanced English.
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This is a live English lessons, so if you're joining me live, thanks so much.
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I have live lessons occasionally.
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There's always a new lesson here on my YouTube channel every Friday.
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Sometimes it's a live lesson, sometimes it's not, but thanks everyone for joining me from
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Mexico, Tanzania, Hungary, Argentina, Kashmir.
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Thank you so much for taking time today to join me.
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We're going to be talking about the sentence structure "would you rather" in order to introduce
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another idea.
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Because if you don't like someone's idea, you don't want to say, "No, no, no.
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I don't want to do that.
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Instead, you want to politely suggest something else.
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So, we're going to be talking about this and playing a little game.
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Have you ever heard of the 1960s TV show The Newlywed Game?
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This was a game show that I think is the longest-running game show that started in the 1960s and it
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featured a newly married couple.
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The game show host asked the couple some questions to see how well they knew each other.
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So today, I'd like to ask you some of these questions, specifically with the sentence
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structure "would you rather".
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I'm going to answer these questions.
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I'm going to give you some samples, but I want you to try to write an answer to the
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three questions we're going to talk about today and try to use English.
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It's great if I'm using it, but it's even better if you're using it.
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That's how you're going to improve.
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And if you enjoyed this kind of game show style lesson, you can join me for even more
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of this game show style because in September 2018, which is coming in one day ... It's
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tomorrow.
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Wow.
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Starting tomorrow, September first in 2018, the lesson set for the Fearless Fluency Club
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is about this game show idea.
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I was the host, and I interviewed my sister and brother-in-law and I asked them some of
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these newly wed questions to see how well they knew each other.
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Some of them they got correct, some of them they didn't get correct.
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It's just a great way to have a conversation and to expand your listening skills and your
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knowledge.
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So if you'd like to join me this month in the Fearless Fluency Club, you'll be able
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to continue to learn with this model.
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There's a link in the description.
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Make sure that you use the coupon code new so that you can get the first month for $5.
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This is a $30 discount because usually each month is $35.
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All right.
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Are you ready to start with the first question?
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My first question, I want you to write this question in the comments.
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My first question is, would you rather ... Make sure that you spell that correctly.
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R-A-T-H-E-R.
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Would you rather live in a cold climate or a warm climate?
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Here we're using this great vocabulary word, climate.
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It just means the temperature of the area where you live.
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A cold climate might be like Canada, or Finland, or maybe Russia, or maybe a northern area
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in your country.
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Would you rather live in a cold climate, it's cold most of the time, or would you rather
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live in a warm climate?
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It's warm most of the time, usually in the south of your country.
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Now, let's make sure that you're answering this question with the correct grammatical
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structure.
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Make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."
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If you say simply warm, okay, I understand what you mean, but you're not expanding your
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advanced grammatical structures.
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So, make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."
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If you could write this in the chat box, that would be great so that other people can see
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this full sentence and also learn with you.
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So you could say, "I would rather live in a cold climate," or you can be even more natural
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and you can say I'd, "I'd rather live in a warm climate."
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Here we're making a contraction.
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I would becomes I'd.
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I'd rather live in a warm climate.
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Now, in the game show, they asked one partner this question and then they said, "What do
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you think your wife will say to this question?"
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And they had to guess for each other.
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Here, we don't have that kind of situation.
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If you'd like to see more of that game show style, you can join the course and see the
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game show situation.
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But, this is a great way to just ask and answer in a polite way.
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I'd rather live in a warm climate.
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That's true for me.
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I'm not a big fan of winter.
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It's not really my favorite season.
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I like fall, but if I lived in a place that had cold weather for the majority of the time,
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I think I'd be a little blue.
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I'd probably get sad pretty easily.
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And I just like wearing short sleeve clothes, and being freer, and not having to be bundled
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up all the time.
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Bundled up is a great phrasal verb.
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That means you're wearing a lot of clothes.
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All right.
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Let's move on to the second would-you-rather question.
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This one is a little crazier, so turn up the crazy a little bit.
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It is, would you rather like to have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck?
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This one's a little crazy, but it's a fun hypothetical idea.
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Hypothetical means that it's not realistic.
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You can't really have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck.
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So here, let me quickly explain these vocabulary words that I used.
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A tail, you probably know what that is, the tail of a monkey.
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But also webbed feet, W-E-B-B-E-D, webbed feet.
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When a duck swims, it doesn't have hands, it has webs between.
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It's kind of like its fingers so it can swim more easily.
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So, I want to know for you, would you rather have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like
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a duck?
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What would you answer in a polite way?
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How could you make a full sentence?
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You could say, and this is the answer for me, "I'd rather ... " I made the contraction.
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"I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because I could swim fast.
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That would be amazing, and I could hide it a little bit easier when I'm in public, so
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it's a little bit less embarrassing."
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We could make a negative sentence.
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I talked about what I'd rather have.
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I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.
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But what if I want to talk about the opposite one?
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Can you make a sentence talking about the opposite choice, the one that you don't want?
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How could we make this sentence negative?
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You might say, "I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey."
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We're simply adding the word not.
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I'd rather not.
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Great.
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This is a simple way.
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So, I want to know for you, can you make a negative sentence talking about the choice
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that you didn't want?
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This is a good challenge to try to make a positive sentence and also a negative sentence.
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I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey because it would be kind of difficult to hide and
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maybe it'd be a little bit more socially embarrassing or awkward, and I think it would be less useful.
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So in my quick explanation, I used a lot of hypothetical words.
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I said, "It would be less useful."
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I used would to talk about a situation that's not real.
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I'm imagining it would be less useful.
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It wouldn't be as helpful.
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It would be more socially embarrassing.
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I'm using would to talk about something hypothetical.
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I'd like to challenge you, if you would like to have a conversation with another friend
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or someone else in English, take some of these would-you-rather questions.
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You can find plenty of other questions on the internet.
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Just type "would you rather questions" and ask each other, or even ask yourself, and
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try to write an answer.
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Say it out loud and use this advanced grammatical structure.
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I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.
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I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey.
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This is going to help you to use the structure as much as you can.
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And it's kind of funny, especially if you give some explanations.
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I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because ... Using the word because just makes it easier
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to continue your sentence and make it more complex.
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You could say webbed feet, simple answer, no explanation, but really, that's not helping
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you improve too much so you can say a full sentence.
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I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck, but you could make it even better if you say,
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"I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because," and then you give an explanation.
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Do you see how you can build on the base of the sentence?
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Your answer is the base of the sentence, webbed feet like a duck, and then you're expanding
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on that to make your sentence more complex.
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Because I'm sure for you, you've learned a lot of grammatical structures, but maybe you
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don't always use them.
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So when you expand your sentences like this, you're giving yourself the chance to use them
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and remember that.
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Okay, let's go to the third question.
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The third question is a little bit less crazy, but it's a beautiful thought.
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I want to know, and please write this question in the comment so that other people can see
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the question, would you rather instantly become fluent in English, instantly, or would you
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rather instantly get $1,000?
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This is US dollars.
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Would you rather instantly speak English fluently or instantly have $1,000?
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I'm curious what your answer for this would be.
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For me, it's a little bit different because English is my native language, but if I chose
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another language, let's say Portuguese, would I rather instantly speak Portuguese fluently
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or have $1,000?
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I think I would choose Portuguese.
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I'd rather instantly speak another language fluently than have $1,000.
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For me, the skill of speaking another language is worth $1,000.
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It's worth more than $1,000 to me.
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Maybe for you it's different.
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Maybe for you your English level is high enough that $1,000 would be more useful to you or
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maybe more helpful for you.
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A lot of you said, "I'd rather speak English fluently."
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So, let me give you a quick way that you can expand this sentence.
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I just used it a moment ago when you want to include both answers in your sentence.
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I'd rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.
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We're using the word than, T-H-A-N, not T-H-E-N, T-H-A-N.
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Here you're saying the thing that you want and then you're contrasting it with the thing
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that you don't want.
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I'd rather have ... I'd rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.
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Beautiful.
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This is another option.
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The first option was you can just add because.
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I'd rather speak English fluently because it's my dream.
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It's my love.
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It will help me get a better job.
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Great.
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This is just adding because, but you could also contrast it with the other answer, I'd
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rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.
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Beautiful.
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This is a great way to use I'd rather in a polite way.
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I'd like to give you a quick final scenario when this might be used in daily conversation.
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So let's imagine that you are visiting London.
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I hope that you get that opportunity.
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It's a really cool place.
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It's not where I'm from.
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I'm from the US.
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I live in the south east, but I have visited London several times.
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Let's imagine that you are in London with your best friend and you're trying to decide
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where you should go for dinner and your friends suggests, "Let's go to this Indian place."
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Indian food is amazing in London, so your friend says, "I'd rather ... " or, "I'd like
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to go to the Indian place," but you're not really feeling like you want to have Indian
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food.
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So, how can you politely suggest that you want something else?
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Well, you could use our phrase of the day.
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You could say, "Well, I think I'd rather have fish and chips.
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I'd rather have this classic English dish."
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I'd rather, plus the verb, I'd rather go to the pub.
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I'd rather have fish and chips.
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This is so polite, and you're just giving another option.
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You're not saying, "No, I don't want to eat Indian food.
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That's a silly idea."
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You're not being rude.
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You're just politely suggesting what you want.
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"I think I'd rather have fish and chips.
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Let's go there."
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Beautiful.
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I hope that you can use this when you're suggesting other ideas and suggesting other things.
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Thank you everyone who's given great sentences here in the chat box.
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A lot of you said that you'd like to speak English fluently.
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You'd rather speak English fluently, but some of you said you'd rather have a thousand dollars.
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So, I have some good news for you.
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You don't have to spend a thousand dollars to become fluent in English.
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The first thing that you need is motivation.
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Great.
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That's free.
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The second thing that you need is material.
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It could be movies.
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It could be TV shows.
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There's a lot of videos on my channel that you can use to learn.
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I even give some suggestions for movies, and TV shows, and podcasts that you can listen
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to.
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This is all free material.
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We're so lucky to have access <