Name: Improve Your Vocabulary: 8 Ways to Ask 'CAN I...?'
Uploaded: 2017-10-10T13:12:23.000Z
Duration: 5 min 17 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...

Gerund

Hi, and welcome back to engVid. In today's lesson
we're looking at expanding your vocabulary,

Present continuous

so whether you're preparing for an IELTS speaking
test or whether just generally you want your

To-infinitive

speaking to become more interesting and
varied, then this is a good lesson for you.

We're taking the basic phrase: "Can I...?" looking
for some sort of permission, and looking at

different ways that we can say that. I also
speak a little bit of French, and I find that

I can only say: "Puis-je avoir", and I
don't really have any other options.

Obviously we're looking
at English today.

So, a few years ago I found myself going down
to the countryside and going for a rather

awkward walk with my now father-in-law, and
I had to ask for his permission to have his

daughter's hand in marriage. Now, these are
some ways that I could have said that.

I could have said: "Graham, allow
me to marry your daughter.",

Obviously you've got the noun: "allowance".
"Allowance" more normally refers to money,

to have an allowance of money. You're allowed
to have a certain sum of money. Okay.

Next word on the list for today: "permit".
Now we have a noun here and a verb.

The noun most often speaks to some
sort of formal permit to do something.

For example, to have a permit
to go into a nature reserve.

But if we're asking for permission,
I can say: "Permit me to..."

It's quite formal, so probably not the
kind of thing I would say in conversation

It refers to permission. Here
is the noun: "permission".

"Can I have your permission to do this?",
"Do I have your permission to do this?"

The next word: "let". "Let me".
This is a little bit more forceful.

It's taking a bit more control. "Let me do
this." It's a little bit more persuasive.

Also, we have "let"
in terms of a rental.

If you are sharing... If you are
borrowing a place and you're living

in it, you are letting it. You are letting
it. It's a similar word to "rent".

Next word: "enable". So, the prefix "en", you
have "able", putting me... Making me able

"Enable me to do the most
wonderful thing in the world.",

"Let me do this.", "Let me marry your
daughter." Enable me. Make me able.

"Facilitate", now, this is a more formal word,
more suited to the context of business English.

But if I was to use this word, which would be a bit
weird in the context, I would say something like:

"Graham, I would like to facilitate
a wedding with your daughter."

It means to organize, but it's not
quite the right word to use here.

"Consent". Again, a word that is
used as a noun and as a verb.

If I wanted to use it as a noun,
I would say something like:

"Graham, do I have your consent
to marry your daughter?"

"Do you consent me to doing a
certain course of action?",

"Do you consent that I...?" Okay?
So, noun and verb there.

"Go ahead", this is also the name of a sort
of a cereal bar in the UK, the idea behind:

"Go Ahead. Go on, you can do it."
Again, noun and verb phrase. As a noun:

"to get the go ahead", it means permission.
"Do I have the go ahead to go and do this?"

And as a verb: "I'm going
to go ahead and do this."

Okay? So: "Do I have your
go ahead?", and as a verb:

"Can I go ahead and do it?", "Can I
go ahead and organize the wedding?"

And lastly, let's think of traffic lights,
yeah. So, red, stop; amber, getting ready;

Okay? It's a sort of phrase to
say: "Can I go off and do this?"

of film production. If a production has been
agreed, the production has been green lit.

I hope you are, too, now with these fantastic
new phrases to add to your vocab bank.

Why not test yourself
by doing today's quiz?