hi and welcome back to love English I'm
Layla and today I want to help you a
sound smarter in English for this lesson
you won't need a pair of glasses
actually but you will need to think of
synonyms today I'll be going through ten
expressions in English to help you sound
smarter more formal more academic or
more businesslike depending on the
situation and you won't need a pair of
these for that before we get started
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ten expressions to make you sound super
smart so number one instead of saying
everyone thinks or that's everyone's
opinion all people think the same you
can say that's the consensus or the
general consensus when we say general
consensus it's softening your language
you can't assume that everyone thinks
the same so for example the general
consensus in the UK probably globally at
the moment is that brexit is really
crazy
whether you're pro leave or pro remain
you can also use it in the question form
what's the general consensus mean
what do you think most people are in
agreement on this kind of phrase is
perfect for business meetings rather
than saying what does everyone think you
can say what's the general consensus
it's also perfect at university in
academia if you're having a debate or a
seminar discussion that's the general
consensus number two it's the common
misconception misconception means that
people often think this but it's
actually wrong it's usually that people
have got their information from the
wrong source and they have simply
misunderstood something so for example
it's a common misconception the English
people only drink tea
we actually drink a lot of coffee these
days so rather than everybody has the
wrong idea
it's a common misconception people
frequently think something that is not
true
based on faulty or inaccurate
information number three a great word a
fun word repeat it with me prerogative
prerogative prerogative four syllables
stress on the second syllable perogative
this can sometimes be used in a kind of
ironic way we often say as women we have
the prerogative to change our minds
it's our prerogative as women so
basically we have the right or privilege
to something it's often use when we talk
about upper classes and people with
certain privileges but it can also be
used as a kind of expression it's my
prerogative to choose the expensive wine
all it's our prerogative to have a good
education so rather than saying I'm
allowed I should have it's my right it's
my prerogative right so number four is a
great expression and it's essentially
used as an intensifier to deny something
that has been said to say actually the
opposite
is true on the contrary on the contrary
contrary
so three syllables are there on the
contrary I really enjoy your cooking or
quite the contrary
quite the contrary I really enjoyed that
meal so you're using this expression to
contrast meaning actually that's not
true this is true you can also say
contrary to popular opinion contrary to
popular opinion many people are
confident that brexit will be a success
we'll see number five this is a great
expression because it means we avoid
using that common boring verb to think
instead of using think we can use
consider and if we want to sound a
little bit more sophisticated academic
and businesslike we could say taking
into consideration taking into
consideration meaning with thinking with
careful thought not just like that but
we're actually thinking about all the
different factors and things that can
influence something
so it's careful thought not just general
thought you need to take into
consideration all the different factors
when deciding what university to go to
what are your goals in English what are
your aims boring why don't you try what
are your English aspirations what do you
aspire to be able to do what level are
you aspiring to gain to aspire or the
noun aspirations what are your
aspirations in life simply means what
are your goals what are your aims or
objectives objectives is quite a nice
word there as well but aspirations does
sound a little bit more academic or
businesslike and certainly will help you
sound a lot smarter so what are your
aspirations what level would you like to
reach in English what career aspirations
do you have
do you aspire to be now talking about
English do you sometimes lack motivation
you haven't got the energy to pick up
another grammar book or maybe not even
watch a grammar lesson with us well
maybe you are lacking impetus impetus so
rather than saying motivation which
actually it's not too bad a word to use
at all it's quite neutral impetus is a
little bit more uncommon and more
advanced to use he's lacking the impetus
to study he's lacking the impetus to
study here we're saying lacking rather
than he doesn't have a lot it just
sounds again more academic more formal
and again makes you sound a little bit
smarter number eight I love the sound of
this word I think it sounds brilliant
conundrum Kern Andrew the stress is on
the second syllable it's not conundrum
but conundrum conundrum conundrum so
this simply means problem issue it's a
bit of a conundrum I find myself in a
bit of a conundrum I want to learn
English but I haven't got an English
speaking partner number nine and I'm
probably going to use brexit as my
example again controversial the
adjective or controversy the noun in
this case we are referring to something
that causes an argument where people
have very differing opinions brexit is a
controversial issue so much that we're
not allowed to talk about it at work
it's a complex problem that's causing a
lot of people to argue it's very
controversial asking someone's opinion
of course you can say what's your
opinion or what do you think but instead
of that we could say what's your
perspective what's your perspective
perspective is talking about somebody's
opinion from their position how they
view things what's your perspective on
brexit everyone's are going to have a
slightly different opinion if you are
living in the country if you're British
if you are European or if you're from
another country everybody is going to
have slightly different opinions because
they have different perspectives they
are looking at it from a different
viewpoint you can also say what's your
take on this what's your take on this it
has a similar meaning to what's your
perspective slightly more informal
perspective would be a much better word
to use in a business meeting situation
what's your perspective on this should
we go for the deal or not and there we
go
ten expressions to sound smarter more
intelligent to be able to have a
business meeting more effectively with a
better range of English expressions and
vocabulary do make sure that you try
learning some of these fixed expressions
and of course the collocations that go
with certain verbs and nouns this is
going to help you build your vocabulary
much faster and of course reach that
more advanced level quicker don't forget
we've got lots more lessons to help you
develop your vocabulary and expressions
in English so learning English might not
be so much of a conundrum after all