Hi. My name is Rebecca, and in today's vocabulary lesson, you'll have a chance to learn a variety
of expressions to discuss the positive and negative aspects of any subject or topic.
Okay? So let's have a look at the board. You can use the expressions that I'm going to
teach you in a few minutes in verbal situations or in written situations. Okay? So you can
use them in conversations, in discussions, presentations, or debates. You can also use
them when you're writing academic papers or assignments. You can use them in business
reports and also in personal or professional email. Okay? So how do we discuss what are
the terms we can use to discuss or describe the positive and negative aspects of something?
So here are some of the expressions you can use. We can say "advantages" and "disadvantages".
That's used very often, and many people do know that. You're familiar with that. But
I'm going to show you some other words you can use in exactly the same way.
You can also say "pros" and "cons". So "pros" means the positive aspects, and "cons" means
the negative aspects. Okay? Of any topic or problem or policy or issue that you're discussing.
We can also use the term "benefits" and "drawbacks". Okay? Again, "benefits" are the positive;
"drawbacks" are the negative. You can use the term "positive" and "negative" aspects.
Positive aspects of an issue, the negative aspects of a decision, let's say. Okay?
You could also say the "plus points" and the "minus points". It means exactly the same
thing. Basically, everything on this side means the positive side. All the expressions
or words on that side mean the negative side. Okay?
You can also say the "pluses" and "minuses". Okay? Or you could say the "upside" of the
issue or the "downside". Okay? Let's see how we can use these in some sentences.
So, you could say, for example, "What are the advantages and disadvantages of this new
law?" "Let's discuss the pros and cons of the marketing campaign." "Let's list the
benefits and drawbacks of the proposed policy." "The article discusses the positive and negative
aspects of the recent political changes." Next one, "Let's compare the plus points
and the minus points of the newly released product." "This essay contrasts the pluses
and minuses of private school education." The last one, "There's always an upside and
downside to every decision or change in life." Okay?
So now you see how to use these terms and expressions when you're discussing various
types of questions. You could be discussing an issue, you could be writing an essay, you
could be having a debate, and these expressions will come in very, very handy.
Now, the only one point I would like to make is that this is the only one, pros and cons,
which you have to use together. In other words, you have to say something like, "Let's discuss
the pros and cons of this new policy." You cannot say, really, we don't use it this way,
"Let's discuss the pros of this policy" or "Let's discuss the cons of this policy." We
don't usually use it like that at all. But with all of the other expressions, you can
use them either together or separately. So you could say, "Let's discuss the benefits
of this change." "Let's discuss the drawbacks." "Let's discuss the plus points." "Let's talk
about the minus points." Okay? So the rest of them, you could use either together or
separately, but not this one. Okay?
So if you'd like to do a quiz on this or many other aspects of English, please go to our
website, www.engvid.com. Thanks for watching, and good luck with your English. Bye for now.