Hi. In a speaking exam, you may be asked to share an opinion or have a discussion with
a partner about a topic. In this video, we’ll have a look at how to express your opinions
and how you can agree or disagree with someone else’s point of view.
Let’s have a look
at some phrases you can use to express your opinions.
Some good phrases to use for expressing your opinion are ‘I think’, ‘I believe’,
‘I like’, and ‘in my opinion’. For example, if you were talking to your friend
about movies, you might say ‘I think that action movies are the best’. You can also
express yourself with the negative forms of these phrases. ‘I don’t like horror movies’,
or ‘I don’t believe the world needs any more Transformers films’ are good examples
of sentences to express opinion.
Do you want to make your statements stronger? You can use adverbs and adjectives to do this.
Instead of ‘I believe’ or ‘in my opinion’ you can use ‘I strongly believe’ ’ or
‘in my honest opinion’. Adverbs and adjectives are useful for showing you’re serious about
a topic.
As well as expressing your opinion, it is a good conversation skill to ask about other
people’s opinions. Phrases like ‘What do you think about…’ and ‘How do you
feel about’ are good questions to keep a conversation going. You might ask someone
‘what’s your opinion on climate change?’, or use a question after you make a statement
- ‘I think the blue jacket is the nicest. What do you think?’
Knowing how to agree and disagree with someone else’s opinion is just as valuable as being
able to express your own opinion. You can use short statements to show you feel the
same as the speaker. For example, if a friend says ‘I think football is more fun than
tennis’, you could respond with ‘I agree!’ or ‘that’s right!’, or ‘me too’.
You can disagree with a statement in a similar way. You could say ‘That’s not right’,
‘I don’t think that’s very good’, or simply ‘I disagree’. If you have mixed
feelings on an issue you can use a more neutral phrase. For example, ‘I’m not sure about
that’, or ‘I partly agree with you’.
It’s normal to explain your opinions as part of a discussion. If your friend says
‘I think the LearnEnglish Teens channel is great’, don’t just respond with your
opinion alone - use a statement to justify it. You could say ‘me too; they have amazing
presenters!’, or ‘I agree. It’s way more interesting than reading textbooks!’
For more tips on learning English and preparing for your exam, subscribe to our channel and
visit the LearnEnglish Teens website where you’ll find loads more learning material
to help you improve your English!