Here we go again guys with another English video.
This time we're looking at ten useful phrases that you can use to make your English sound
more interesting and more exciting.
We're trying to stop our English sounding boring.
That's the aim of today's lesson.
Now we're going to be doing that by looking at exaggeration.
Now exaggeration is when we make something sound more interesting or bigger or more important
than it actually is.
So for example I didn't just see any spider i saw an enormous spider.
And that makes it sound bigger than it really was.
So these are ten phrases you can use to make your English sound more interesting.
All that is coming right up.
So when do we exaggerate?
Well we exaggerate when we want to make what we are saying sound more interesting or funnier
or that we want to emphasise a particular point.
So these are really great to make your stories and what you say sound more interesting.
Alright, let's do number one.
'My shoes are killing me.
Blimey!'
So if you want to show that something is really hurting you or it's really sore you could
use the phrase 'it's killing me'.
So my shoes are killing me.
They are not literally killing me, I'm still alive, I'm still going to be ok but we use
it to emphasise just how painful or sore this thing is.
'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse'
This is a great phrase to use when you are really really hungry.
So hungry that you could eat a horse.
Again not literally but we use it as a phrase to just express and to emphasise our hunger.
I could eat a horse.
Now I'm really curious to know what's that in your language?
I'm so hungry I could eat a, what animal or what thing would you say?
Let me know in the comments below.
'This computer is taking forever to start' Come on!
Right, to show that something is taking too long, a really long time, we say 'it's taking
forever'.
Forever, like, until the end of time.
So obviously not literally.
I haven't been waiting for my computer to start forever but it feels like it so we use
it takes forever or it's taking forever to show that it's been too long, a long time.
So yeah you might be waiting for a bus and you might say 'It's taking forever'.
It just means it's taking a really long time and you are not happy about it.
'Look I've apologised a million times!
I don't know how many more I can do.'
We use the number a million to exaggerate how many times we've done something.
So in that instance I've apologised a million times, I mean I didn't apologise a million
times that is completely rubbish.
I maybe apologised twice or three times.
We use it to exaggerate how many times we did it, so it's a really great phrase.
Maybe your friend has told you a story before and you say 'Yeah yeah I've heard this story
a million times'.
And you are saying yes I've heard this story before, you don't need to tell me it again.
So a lovely bit of exaggeration to be a bit humorous I guess, it's nice to be a bit funny
with your language.
There's a great quote by an English comedian called Rick Mayall and he said 'I've told
you a million times, don't exaggerate.'
'For me this is the best view in the world.
Look at this., it's amazing!'
We use superlatives to express our feelings especially really strong emotions.
To say that something is the best in the world.
Maybe your husband is the most handsome man in the world or your wife is the most beautiful
woman in the world.
Now we can't obviously say that someone is the best or the most beautiful in the world
or the most handsome in the world but we like to exaggerate just to show how much we like
something or that we love something.
In London, in Primrose Hill, I think it's the best view in the world.
Obviously there are other incredible views but for me, I'm going to use a bit of exaggeration
to express how I feel, it's the best view in the world.
'This ice cream is out of this world.
It's amazing.
So good!'
If you say something is out of this world you are saying that it is extremely good.
You are emphasising that it is extremely good or impressive.
We often use it with food, I think that's the most common use that I can think of.
So you say 'this chocolate dessert is out of this world.'
It just means it's amazing, it's fantastic.
'Lionel Messi is on fire tonight.
He's amazing, right?
Three goals, three assists.
What a player!
This one is not literal.
Lionel Messi is not literally on fire.
It means more that he's unstoppable or he's on great form.
That he can do anything he wants, there's something magical in the way that he's playing
tonight.
So if you are on fire then you are unstoppable you can do anything.
Maybe for example your friend is being quite funny, they've said a lot of funny jokes,
you could say 'Oh my god, you are on fire today.'
As in you are saying so many funny things, you are on great form, that kind of thing.
So to be on fire.
'Uh oh.
My flatmate is going to kill me when he sees the broken window.'
If we want to express that we think we are in trouble with someone we would say they
are going to kill me.
Now obviously literally they are not going to kill you but they might be very angry or
very upset about something.
This one is from my childhood 'oh no, my Dad's going to kill me.'
Or 'My Mum's going to kill me because I did something wrong'.
So it's a really exaggerated phrase to say you think you are in trouble with someone.
That they might be angry or upset with you.
So in that case my flatmate is going to kill me because I broke his window.
So yeah, he might be angry or upset with me, ok.
'It's hotter than the sun in here.
Blimey!
Let's open a window.'
Just like with superlatives, we can use comparatives to exaggerate about the things that we've
seen or done.
So in that example it's hotter than the sun.
Hotter is the comparative adjective and then hotter than the sun.
Obviously it wasn't actually hotter than the sun, that would be madness but it felt really
hot.
Another one, going back to my spider example 'the spider was bigger than my head'.
Now that would be quite amazing, I mean if there is a spider bigger than your head, certainly
there isn't one in England, I hope.
So yeah, we're just exaggerating to make it sound a bit funnier, a bit more interesting.
To get the listener's attention.
'What?
The spider was bigger than your head?
Oh my God!'
Yeah so, it makes the language or the story sound more intriguing, more interesting and
makes the listener want to listen more.
'I don't know about you but I'm starving.
Shall we have lunch?'
And the final one, it's again talking about how hungry we are 'I'm starving'.
Not literally, that is of course awful, but we use it to exaggerate.
I'm not just a little bit hungry, I'm starving.
Just to express or to emphasise that feeling or that emotion.
So those are ten phrases that you can use to make your English sound more interesting,
more exciting, get people to listen to you even more because your English is so interesting.
In the comments below I'd love you to write a sentence using any one of those phrases.
You could talk about your English or tell me a story.
Try and practise and use those phrases in the comments below, that would be fantastic.
Guys remember that I release new videos every Tuesday and every Friday so that you guys
can take your English to the next level.
So remember to hit the subscribe button, hit the notification button as well so you don't
miss one single video.
Until next time guys this is Tom, the Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.