Name: STOP SAYING "Congratulations" - Improve Your English Vocabulary!
Uploaded: 2021-05-26T07:24:00.000Z
Duration: 6 min 46 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Okay, what about when something like this happens?

Some positive thing in someone's life happens, maybe a new job, a new house, a new baby.

Of course, nice and easy: 'congratulations.'

Okay, the pronunciation can be difficult, doesn't have to be; let's break it down.

There's a glottal stop at the end. 'Gra.' 'Gra.'

In other situations, maybe that person did something really cool, and you want to say you are awesome.

This one you could also use these responses.

Again, did you notice the pronunciation of that 'L'.

I didn't say 'well done' - you can, you can, that's not wrong, but more commonly, more commonly this is what you hear in the real world - you hear 'well, well done, well done.'

It's faster speech it's more casual...That's what you hear.

For example: 'Oh my God, I got a new job.'  'Nice one, well done.'

Why? Well, in the real world when you say this, your immediate thought is sarcasm.

It doesn't sound sincere, it doesn't sound real, so, if you say 'good for you', first, probably don't say in a text because you can't read the context.

Secondly, if you say in person make sure you sound genuine and sincere.

You can modify this with, 'I'm really happy for you', or 'I'm so happy for you'.

How can you react? How can you show sympathy, and how can you react in a positive way?

Okay, your friend has bad news. How can you react?

You need to show sympathy, so how can you do that?

If there is a death, specifically, that's the sentence you need.

Um, if you want to add more to that, you could say: 'Oh that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that.'

Now yes, this word, 'sucks', that is informal. It is casual.

But, if you're being genuine it's okay. If you're being sincere, that's okay.

However, don't use this in a formal situation because some people might think that you don't care.

For example, if that's your friend, you know each other, she knows that you care, that's good, but if that is, I don't know your boss or someone new, or someone older, they might not like that word, so just be careful.

So, in this one, we add a more personal feeling, right?

'Mate', we're showing that we're close to you.

'Mate' is a British term, it means friend, right?

Pronunciation: notice again I said that 'L' like in 'L' 'Awful.' 'Awful.'

Say with me, 'awful'. 'Mate that's awful.'

Your friend is going on holiday; how can you react? how can you say, 'Dude, yes'!

'No way!' It's a good reaction to good news... or bad news.

It's just, it's surprise, so it's good for any situation in which you are surprised.

This one, you're adding more emotion, more surprise like, 'Wow, that's nuts'!

'Nuts' means crazy, but in this context, it means that's crazy good.

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