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  • Hello, hello.

  • Welcome to today's live English lesson here on the Speak English with Vanessa YouTube

  • channel.

  • I'm Vanessa, and today we're going to be talking about using advanced sentence structure specifically

  • to ask polite questions.

  • So, I hope that today you'll be able to use this English concept and as you have conversations,

  • hopefully you're having English conversations, you'll be able to use this spontaneously and

  • naturally and you'll be able to speak advanced English.

  • This is a live English lessons, so if you're joining me live, thanks so much.

  • I have live lessons occasionally.

  • There's always a new lesson here on my YouTube channel every Friday.

  • Sometimes it's a live lesson, sometimes it's not, but thanks everyone for joining me from

  • Mexico, Tanzania, Hungary, Argentina, Kashmir.

  • Thank you so much for taking time today to join me.

  • We're going to be talking about the sentence structure "would you rather" in order to introduce

  • another idea.

  • Because if you don't like someone's idea, you don't want to say, "No, no, no.

  • I don't want to do that.

  • Instead, you want to politely suggest something else.

  • So, we're going to be talking about this and playing a little game.

  • Have you ever heard of the 1960s TV show The Newlywed Game?

  • This was a game show that I think is the longest-running game show that started in the 1960s and it

  • featured a newly married couple.

  • The game show host asked the couple some questions to see how well they knew each other.

  • So today, I'd like to ask you some of these questions, specifically with the sentence

  • structure "would you rather".

  • I'm going to answer these questions.

  • I'm going to give you some samples, but I want you to try to write an answer to the

  • three questions we're going to talk about today and try to use English.

  • It's great if I'm using it, but it's even better if you're using it.

  • That's how you're going to improve.

  • And if you enjoyed this kind of game show style lesson, you can join me for even more

  • of this game show style because in September 2018, which is coming in one day ... It's

  • tomorrow.

  • Wow.

  • Starting tomorrow, September first in 2018, the lesson set for the Fearless Fluency Club

  • is about this game show idea.

  • I was the host, and I interviewed my sister and brother-in-law and I asked them some of

  • these newly wed questions to see how well they knew each other.

  • Some of them they got correct, some of them they didn't get correct.

  • It's just a great way to have a conversation and to expand your listening skills and your

  • knowledge.

  • So if you'd like to join me this month in the Fearless Fluency Club, you'll be able

  • to continue to learn with this model.

  • There's a link in the description.

  • Make sure that you use the coupon code new so that you can get the first month for $5.

  • This is a $30 discount because usually each month is $35.

  • All right.

  • Are you ready to start with the first question?

  • My first question, I want you to write this question in the comments.

  • My first question is, would you rather ... Make sure that you spell that correctly.

  • R-A-T-H-E-R.

  • Would you rather live in a cold climate or a warm climate?

  • Here we're using this great vocabulary word, climate.

  • It just means the temperature of the area where you live.

  • A cold climate might be like Canada, or Finland, or maybe Russia, or maybe a northern area

  • in your country.

  • Would you rather live in a cold climate, it's cold most of the time, or would you rather

  • live in a warm climate?

  • It's warm most of the time, usually in the south of your country.

  • Now, let's make sure that you're answering this question with the correct grammatical

  • structure.

  • Make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."

  • If you say simply warm, okay, I understand what you mean, but you're not expanding your

  • advanced grammatical structures.

  • So, make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."

  • If you could write this in the chat box, that would be great so that other people can see

  • this full sentence and also learn with you.

  • So you could say, "I would rather live in a cold climate," or you can be even more natural

  • and you can say I'd, "I'd rather live in a warm climate."

  • Here we're making a contraction.

  • I would becomes I'd.

  • I'd rather live in a warm climate.

  • Now, in the game show, they asked one partner this question and then they said, "What do

  • you think your wife will say to this question?"

  • And they had to guess for each other.

  • Here, we don't have that kind of situation.

  • If you'd like to see more of that game show style, you can join the course and see the

  • game show situation.

  • But, this is a great way to just ask and answer in a polite way.

  • I'd rather live in a warm climate.

  • That's true for me.

  • I'm not a big fan of winter.

  • It's not really my favorite season.

  • I like fall, but if I lived in a place that had cold weather for the majority of the time,

  • I think I'd be a little blue.

  • I'd probably get sad pretty easily.

  • And I just like wearing short sleeve clothes, and being freer, and not having to be bundled

  • up all the time.

  • Bundled up is a great phrasal verb.

  • That means you're wearing a lot of clothes.

  • All right.

  • Let's move on to the second would-you-rather question.

  • This one is a little crazier, so turn up the crazy a little bit.

  • It is, would you rather like to have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck?

  • This one's a little crazy, but it's a fun hypothetical idea.

  • Hypothetical means that it's not realistic.

  • You can't really have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck.

  • So here, let me quickly explain these vocabulary words that I used.

  • A tail, you probably know what that is, the tail of a monkey.

  • But also webbed feet, W-E-B-B-E-D, webbed feet.

  • When a duck swims, it doesn't have hands, it has webs between.

  • It's kind of like its fingers so it can swim more easily.

  • So, I want to know for you, would you rather have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like

  • a duck?

  • What would you answer in a polite way?

  • How could you make a full sentence?

  • You could say, and this is the answer for me, "I'd rather ... " I made the contraction.

  • "I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because I could swim fast.

  • That would be amazing, and I could hide it a little bit easier when I'm in public, so

  • it's a little bit less embarrassing."

  • We could make a negative sentence.

  • I talked about what I'd rather have.

  • I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.

  • But what if I want to talk about the opposite one?

  • Can you make a sentence talking about the opposite choice, the one that you don't want?

  • How could we make this sentence negative?

  • You might say, "I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey."

  • We're simply adding the word not.

  • I'd rather not.

  • Great.

  • This is a simple way.

  • So, I want to know for you, can you make a negative sentence talking about the choice

  • that you didn't want?

  • This is a good challenge to try to make a positive sentence and also a negative sentence.

  • I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey because it would be kind of difficult to hide and

  • maybe it'd be a little bit more socially embarrassing or awkward, and I think it would be less useful.

  • So in my quick explanation, I used a lot of hypothetical words.

  • I said, "It would be less useful."

  • I used would to talk about a situation that's not real.

  • I'm imagining it would be less useful.

  • It wouldn't be as helpful.

  • It would be more socially embarrassing.

  • I'm using would to talk about something hypothetical.

  • I'd like to challenge you, if you would like to have a conversation with another friend

  • or someone else in English, take some of these would-you-rather questions.

  • You can find plenty of other questions on the internet.

  • Just type "would you rather questions" and ask each other, or even ask yourself, and

  • try to write an answer.

  • Say it out loud and use this advanced grammatical structure.

  • I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.

  • I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey.

  • This is going to help you to use the structure as much as you can.

  • And it's kind of funny, especially if you give some explanations.

  • I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because ... Using the word because just makes it easier

  • to continue your sentence and make it more complex.

  • You could say webbed feet, simple answer, no explanation, but really, that's not helping

  • you improve too much so you can say a full sentence.

  • I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck, but you could make it even better if you say,

  • "I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because," and then you give an explanation.

  • Do you see how you can build on the base of the sentence?

  • Your answer is the base of the sentence, webbed feet like a duck, and then you're expanding

  • on that to make your sentence more complex.

  • Because I'm sure for you, you've learned a lot of grammatical structures, but maybe you

  • don't always use them.

  • So when you expand your sentences like this, you're giving yourself the chance to use them

  • and remember that.

  • Okay, let's go to the third question.

  • The third question is a little bit less crazy, but it's a beautiful thought.

  • I want to know, and please write this question in the comment so that other people can see

  • the question, would you rather instantly become fluent in English, instantly, or would you

  • rather instantly get $1,000?

  • This is US dollars.

  • Would you rather instantly speak English fluently or instantly have $1,000?

  • I'm curious what your answer for this would be.

  • For me, it's a little bit different because English is my native language, but if I chose

  • another language, let's say Portuguese, would I rather instantly speak Portuguese fluently