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  • Hi. My name is Benjamin. Have you ever had a problem when you didn't quite have the words

  • to say to someone when talking in English? I have that when I'm trying to speak French.

  • So in one of my earlier lessons, I was talking about trying to buy a train ticket in London.

  • Imagine that the man says back to me, "Where do I want to go?" I don't know the name of

  • the train station, so I say, "It sort of -- it's sort of got a big wheel. It's got a big wheel,

  • and it's in London. It's like -- it's, like, in the middle of the map. It's kind of busy,

  • busy place in the middle of London." Trying to describe. So I can use "sort of"; I can

  • use "like"; and I can use "kind of" and then try and describe it. Okay?

  • So the man, he then says to me, "Do you mean the airport, son?" And I'm like, "No. No.

  • Not the airport. I want to go to -- I can't remember the name. No, actually..." So these

  • are all ways of showing a different opinion. "Actually, no. It's in the middle of London.

  • It's by a big river. The river Thames. Or I could say, "as a matter of fact, no. I don't

  • want to go to the airport." Or, "To be honest, I want to stay in the center. It's Zone 1."

  • Okay? Or a very similar way of saying "to be honest" would be "to be frank". It means

  • "honest" as well. So I could say, "To be frank with you, I want to go to the place with the

  • big wheel and the river." Okay? Or, "In fact, I really want to go to the place with the

  • national theatre." Okay? Or last one, "The fact of the matter is I'm not going to the

  • airport now." Okay? These are all ways of showing opinions. "Actually", "as a matter

  • of fact", "to be honest". This one is really juicy, nice one, "the fact of the matter is".

  • You'll sound very important if you say that.

  • So the man, he still doesn't understand. What else do I have to say to him to get him to

  • understand me? So I could say, "Well, how shall I put it? Uh, it's got a huge wheel."

  • Or, "What's the word I'm looking for? Um..." It's "Waterloo", by the way. Or, "How can

  • I explain this? It's on the black train line. It's on the northern line. It's right in the

  • middle." Okay? Similar to there -- other ways of, kind of, explaining it, trying to find

  • the meaning.

  • The trainman, he's getting very annoyed with me, and he starts shouting at me. So I take

  • cover. That was a very nasty thing to say. I'm now very upset with this man. These are

  • little introductions to threats, to arguments, to entering an argument. Okay?

  • "What's the best way to put this? You are very unhelpful." "You are an idiot." Or less

  • aggressive, I could say, "What I'm trying to say is you are a bad ticket man, and I

  • just want to go to my favourite place in London." Or, "Now, let me put it this way. If you continue,

  • I will go to your boss." Okay? So these are little pauses while I think of what I'm going

  • to say next. "What's the best way to put this?" To put. "To put", there, means "to say". "What's

  • the best way to say this?" "What I'm trying to say is..." And "now". "Now" is quite a

  • control word. If I say "now", then I have the control of the conversation.

  • Over to here. Brian, my ticket man, now starts yapping, talking. So I need him to stop. Okay?

  • So I say, "Now, look here, Brian. I want my ticket." Or, "Right, then, Brian. That's great,

  • but..." okay? Or -- Brian is still talking. I say, "Okay. That's fine, Brian, but I just

  • want to go to -- and now, I remember. I remember. Waterloo, the place with the big wheel and

  • the river. Thank you." So these are all ways of thinking about what you're saying, and then

  • you say it. Okay? Great. Thanks for watching the video, and do take part in the quiz. Bye.

  • I'm off to Waterloo.

Hi. My name is Benjamin. Have you ever had a problem when you didn't quite have the words

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