Having good social skills is extremely important, especially if you want to create a good impression
on the people that you meet. So, in this lesson today, I'm gonna help you to be friendly in
English, which means, I'm gonna help you, how to be nice and polite to others in English.
Hi friends, thanks for clicking, I am Niharika and in today's lesson, we are gonna look at
some polite expression, that you can use in English and of course, I'll also help you
with some tips, that would help you to appear friendly with people.
Now, we have some expressions right here, which is considered to be very polite and
very commonly used in English. So, if you're not using any of them, hmm, it's time for
you to start using them. So, let's have a look.
The first one is the word or the expression, please. Now, when do you use the word, please?
When you have to sound or when you want to, appear really nice. Well, yes, you use the
word, please, when you request someone to do something for you. So, for example, when
you ask someone to do something for you, like, can you give me a glass of water? Now, how
does that sound? It's more like a command like; can you get me a glass of water? But
the moment, that you add the expression, please, like, can you get me a glass of water, please?
And of course, you gotta change your tone. You gotta sound very nice and polite. So the
moment, you add the word, please, it doesn't sound rude. It doesn't sound like a command
but it sounds like a request. So, when you request someone, you should always use the
expression, please. That would not make you look rude, Okay.
The other expression that I have for you is thank you. Now, when do you use this expression,
thank you? When someone gives you something, when someone compliments you or when someone
wishes you. For example, Happy Birthday, so what are you gonna say? You are gonna say,
thank you. Someone says, wow, you're looking really nice, look at you, you are beautiful.
So someone is complimenting you. So how do you return or how do you respond to this compliment?
Well, you can say, thank you so much and of course, when someone gives you something.
Now, not necessarily, that here I am talking about, someone gifting you something but even
when you request someone to do something and that person has done something for you, you
will say, thank you. So, could you get me a glass of water, please? Now that person
gets you a glass of water, you're gonna say, Oh, thank you, okay. So use the expression,
thank you to thank people, to thank people, when they
compliment, when they wish you or when they do something for you, alright.
Let's move on to another expression, which is, excuse me. Now when do you use this? When
you have to introduce a request that is when you use the word excuse me. Also, when you
wanna get passed, you use the expression, excuse me. For example, you are trying to
get into a train, uh, it's so crowded. You need some space. So, you're not gonna, push
them. What you're gonna do is, you're gonna say, excuse me, could you please give me some
space? I need to get there. So, when you wanna pass by, you will use the expression, excuse
me. and of course, you will also use the expression, excuse me, when you are introducing a request
like, someone is the middle of a conversation and you wanna be nice and polite and you don't
really wanna interrupt, then you would say, excuse me, can I get you something? Okay,
so, that's how you use the expression, excuse me. When you wanna pass by or when you want
to introduce a request, okay. Let's move on to another polite expression and most of us,
love using this expression, which is, I am sorry. So, when you make a mistake, you say,
I'm sorry but even in a general conversation, when you're just talking about something and
probably, you just made a mistake and you don't know what you were saying, then you're
gonna stop and you're gonna say, Oh, I'm so sorry. Or even if, you are getting a train
and by mistake, you put your foot on someone else's foot, ouch, you're gonna say, I'm sorry.
So, whenever you make a mistake and you want to apologize, you use the most common expression,
which is, I am sorry, alright.
Now, I have three tips for you that would help you, to be nice and friendly in English.
So there are four expressions, very polite expressions that you should use in English
to appear friendly and is considered to have good social skills of course and then these
three tips would be also helpful.
So, the first one, ask for permission. Now, whenever you are trying to do something, which
might not be suitable for the other person or the other person would not very comfortable
doing it, it's always good to ask for permission. Like for example, hey, if you don't mind,
can I just borrow your phone? Okay, now, you are asking for permission. So, whenever in
English, you wanna be nice and you don't want someone to feel uncomfortable, you will ask
for permission.
The other tip that I have for you is, avoid controversial topics. Now, if you are meeting
someone for the first time, you are not gonna get into a conversation about sensitive topics
like religion or money, that's not suitable. It's okay, you can have a small talk about
the awful weather or you can have a small talk about movies, music, and food in general
but do not get into very sensitive or very controversial topics like politics, religion
or money. Money matters, uh, that's not a great topic to talk about. So, avoid controversial
topics that would lead to arguments. You don't wanna to fight; you don't wanna get into an
argument with someone that you have just met, right. So these are not considered to be,
good social skills. So avoid them.
Then the last tip that I have for you is, keep the conversation going. So, here when
I say, keep the conversation going, it means that avoid giving, one-word answers. So if
someone asks you something, so what do you do? And you're like, I work. Well, that's
not the way, how you reply. When someone says, so what do you do? You'll say, oh I work for
a finance company and it's a great company to work with. I like my job and so on. So
try to get into a nice, healthy conversation and once the question has been replied to,
try to ask something else to the other person, so that your conversation keeps going on,
alright. So, these are certain tips that would help you to be good at social skills in English
and of course, these are the four expressions that are very, very useful when you want to
appear really nice and charming. I'll be back with a new lesson soon, till then you take care.