- How many times do you think Ed Sheeran says the word like in 30 seconds? Honestly, how
many times? Have a guess, because you're gonna be blown away by how many times he says it.
Let's check it out.
- I sold out Cargo and made like two grand and I remember like being like, like I'd never
got more than 50 quid for a booking before and like before then like nothing at all.
I remember like having like two grand cash in my hand and being like
- [Interviewer] Sizing up.
- Yeah but like all my mates were working Saturday jobs at that point and I was like
this is more than my mates would make in Saturday jobs for the whole year. So that like, me
leaving school where everyone was like you're an idiot
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- And then I was holding that being like no I -
- What? 13 times in 30 seconds? That's remarkable, Ed, that's - give this man a round of applause,
this is a world record, I don't think anyone's ever said like 13 times in 30 seconds. Now,
what we wanna know is, why, why does he say like 13 times in 30 seconds?
Well, there's
two reasons. First of all, we use like as a nothing word, it buys us time when we are
thinking of what we are gonna say. When we are constructing a sentence we'll say the
word like to fill the space whilst we are thinking of of what we wanna say.
It helps us to structure our sentences, hmm, now here it sounds like Ed's got into a bit of a habit
of saying it.
It's almost like, well he's certainly not controlling how often he says
it, otherwise he wouldn't say it 13 times in 30 seconds. It's just kind of a natural
thing, it's almost like a verbal tick, it's automatic, it's a habit that he's got into.
It's like a little crutch he uses when he's trying to think of what he wants to say. So
that's the first reason. The second reason that he's using it is part of a pattern that
we use in everyday spoken English to report what we've said or how we've felt.
So he's looking at the money that he earned from one night's work. Now he didn't literally say
those exact words, this is more than my mates earn, he didn't say those exact words, but
that's what he was feeling, that's how he, what he was thinking. So we can use like to
report how we felt or something that we said.
And it's used all the time, he uses it again later
Well, he's reporting, there, what people said or thought or felt. So, when he left
school people maybe said to him, oh, you're an idiot. Okay, so he's reporting the words
that they said or maybe they expressed those feelings to him, not maybe in those exact
words. So, maybe they said are you sure you wanna leave? Do you think its a good idea?
But the idea here is that that was the emotion that they had, you're an idiot, why are you doing this?
So, the word like in this context is really functional, it's not just filling
space it's actually reporting an emotion or a thought or what someone has actually said.
So, for you guys, do I recommend that you start using the word like? Not necessarily,
you don't need to start trying to add it in. As your conversation becomes more natural
you'll probably start using it a bit more. Probably not a good idea to use it 13 times
in 30 seconds, that's a bit too much, but, it could be a part of your english at some
point if you are trying to think of a word or buy some time throw the word like in there.
And definitely I think it's great to be aware of how other people use it, especially with
that reporting of the emotion or what someone has said or thought, really useful there.
Alright guys, thank you so much, remember to check out my Instagram account and have
a great day, yeah, have a brilliant day. Alright guys, this is Tom, the chief dreamer, saying
goodbye.