Learn how to give advice on a simple matter and make suggestions
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Asking a British Friend for Advice. David here. |
| Kellie: Hello. I'm Kellie. |
| David: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to give advice on a simple matter and make suggestions. The conversation takes place at a shopping centre. |
| Kellie: The speakers are friends. |
| David: So they will use informal English. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Phil: Do you think my wife will like this bag? It's her birthday next week. |
| Katrina: I'm quite sure that she won't. She doesn't like green. |
| Phil: Oh, right. What do you suggest? |
| Katrina: I'm pretty sure that she'll like this pink one. |
| Phil: She probably will... but it's too expensive. |
| Katrina: Hmm, I'm not quite sure about this red one, but maybe she will like it? |
| Phil: She should, she looked at that bag last week. |
| Katrina: Then you should buy it! |
| David: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Phil: Do you think my wife will like this bag? It's her birthday next week. |
| Katrina: I'm quite sure that she won't. She doesn't like green. |
| Phil: Oh, right. What do you suggest? |
| Katrina: I'm pretty sure that she'll like this pink one. |
| Phil: She probably will... but it's too expensive. |
| Katrina: Hmm, I'm not quite sure about this red one, but maybe she will like it? |
| Phil: She should, she looked at that bag last week. |
| Katrina: Then you should buy it! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So Phil was shopping for his wife and wanted some advice from Katrina. |
| Kellie: People often ask others for help and advice in the UK. |
| David: This was a simple question, “will she like it?”, but do people sometimes ask bigger questions too? |
| Kellie: All the time! Close friends often ask each other for relationship advice, or guidance on raising children. Sometimes, even people who aren’t your close friend will still ask! |
| David: That sounds awkward. |
| Kellie: It can be, especially if you’re not given any time to think. Sometimes, it’s best not to give a firm answer unless you are sure. |
| David: Yeah, words like “maybe” or “probably” are good to use. |
| Kellie: If you don’t want to give advice, you can side-step the question and ask somebody else yourself “I’m not sure… what do you think?” |
| David: It’s good to turn it back on the person asking you. |
| Kellie: It is, then you can just agree with them. |
| David: Sometimes people don’t actually want advice, they just want someone to back up what they have already chosen. |
| Kellie: In that case, you really should just agree! |
| David: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Kellie: wife [natural native speed] |
| David: the female partner of a married couple |
| Kellie: wife[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: wife [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: quite [natural native speed] |
| David: completely, wholly |
| Kellie: quite[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: quite [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: to suggest [natural native speed] |
| David: to provide an alternative |
| Kellie: to suggest[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: to suggest [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: pretty [natural native speed] |
| David: fairly, a little |
| Kellie: pretty[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: pretty [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: sure [natural native speed] |
| David: having no doubt about something |
| Kellie: sure[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: sure [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: expensive [natural native speed] |
| David: to cost a lot of money |
| Kellie: expensive[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: expensive [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: maybe [natural native speed] |
| David: possibly, but not certainly, perhaps |
| Kellie: maybe[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: maybe [natural native speed] |
| David: Next we have.. |
| Kellie: probably [natural native speed] |
| David: without much doubt, likely to happen |
| Kellie: probably[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: probably [natural native speed] |
| David: And lastly.. |
| Kellie: one [natural native speed] |
| David: a person or thing that is already known or understood |
| Kellie: one[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Kellie: one [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| David: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Kellie: pink one |
| David: meaning "an item that is pink" |
| David: So pink of course means the colour, but I don’t think that “one” means the number. |
| Kellie: No, “one” can be a really handy word, like “thing” or “stuff” that can be used in place of any noun word. |
| David: So instead of identifying the object by name, we can just use “one”. |
| Kellie: That’s right. We’d use it when we already know what the object is. |
| David: Can it be used in formal conversations? |
| Kellie: It’s pretty informal, so it’s best avoided. Try to use the actual name of the object in those conversations. |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. My favourite colour is pink, so I like the pink one. |
| David: ..which means "My favourite colour is pink, so I like the pink item." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Kellie: too expensive |
| David: meaning "it costs too much money" |
| David: The adjective “expensive” means that something costs a lot of money. |
| Kellie: And in this case, we’re using “too” to highlight it is extreme. |
| David: So if something is too much money for us to buy? |
| Kellie: Yeah. We can use other adjectives in place of “expensive”. |
| David: Like “too tall” or “too bright”. |
| Kellie: Or, if the price is so low that we don’t think the quality will be good enough to buy, we could call it “too cheap”! |
| David: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Kellie: Sure. For example, you can say.. That coat is too expensive for me. |
| David: .. which means "That coat costs too much money for me to buy." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: In this lesson, you'll learn how to give advice on a simple matter and make suggestions. |
| David: To do this, we’ll look at adverbs of certainty. |
| Kellie: We can use some adverbs to say how certain we are of something happening. Are we 100% sure, 50% sure, 10% sure… We put the adverb in front of the verb, unless the verb is “to be” and then it goes after. |
| David: Can you give us some examples of adverbs of certainty? |
| Kellie: Sure! They’re words like “definitely”, as in “It will definitely rain tomorrow” and “probably”, as in “I’ll probably go to the party”. |
| David: As well as adverbs of certainty, we can also use modal verbs. |
| Kellie: Ah, modal verbs again! We talk about these a lot. |
| David: We do! I’d missed them! |
| Kellie: We can use modal verbs to give advice too. The main modal verbs used for advice are “should” and “could”. |
| David: Is there a difference in their use or meaning? |
| Kellie: Not in their use, no, so let’s give some examples of that first. We can make advice sentences by starting with a pronoun, adding “should” or “could”, and then ending with the advice. |
| David: As Katrina says in the dialogue, “You should buy it!” |
| Kellie: Yep. Pronoun, “should”, advice. “You should go to the doctor.” “You could try a different shop.” |
| David: So their use is the same, but their meaning is different. |
| Kellie: A little different, yes. “Should” is stronger, and it sometimes has a moral aspect to it. “It is right that you do this.” “Could” doesn’t have that moral part and is just saying something is possible. |
| David: Let’s go through an example. |
| Kellie: Ok. I’ve found a bag in the street and I ask advice on what to do. What do you think? |
| David: You should take it to the police. |
| Kellie: That means that taking it to the police is the right and only thing to do. It isn’t my bag, so I should hand it in. There is a moral judgement there. |
| David: What if I say “You could take it to the police”? |
| Kellie: That means that taking it to the police is an option, but there are other options. |
| David: Like keeping it? |
| Kellie: Maybe. Using “could” doesn’t give other options, unless you specify them, but it does hint that there are other options out there. You can add an adverb of certainty too, to be more forceful. |
| David: “You should definitely take it to the police.” |
| Kellie: That’s stronger than “You should probably take it to the police”, isn’t it? |
| David: Yes, it is. |
Outro |
| David: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Kellie: Bye. |
Comments
Hide