Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
And I know you've probably had a situation when you're communicating in English
and suddenly you can't find the words that you want to say what you think or you
want to use words that sound natural like native speakers use.
And that's exactly what I want to help you do.
Today we're going to talk about collocations that you can use to help you say
what you think in English. Wait a minute, what are,
what are collocations?
That is a great question and in today's lesson I'm going to tell you exactly
what collocations are,
how they can help you sound more natural and English and we're going to learn
collocations that will help you say what you think in English.
All right, so first of all, what in the world are collocations?
Maybe you've never heard that word before and if you haven't, that's okay.
It's a really technical word in English,
but collocations are groups of words that naturally go together in English.
There aren't any grammar rules about collocations. Instead,
it's just what sounds natural and what native speakers use.
And the truth is you've already learned a lot of them. For example,
if you think about t he words make an d to do in English,
we say that we make the bed in the morning, we don't do the bed.
That sounds a little bit strange.
Or after dinner you might do the dishes,
in other words you wash the dishes, but we would never say,
I'm going to make the dishes again. That doesn't work.
So collocations are these groups of words that just fit together.
They're like best friends.
They're words that love to hang out together and when they do,
they fit super well. They're not always in the same place,
but a lot of the time they are. When these words combine,
they fit together beautifully and they sound natural.
So when you're communicating in English,
instead of choosing one single word each time for a sentence,
if you can learn these groups of words and use them,
it will make it easier for you to express yourself and sound natural when you're
communicating in English. Over the next few months,
I'll be doing several more lessons on collocations so that you can add these new
groups of words to your everyday conversation in English.
Today we're going to talk specifically about collocations with the word think
and collocations. We use to talk about what we think in English,
so let's start with collocations with the word think.
These are words that naturally go together and you've probably them a lot,
so they're perfect for you to use as well.
When we're talking about what we think we're usually talking about our opinion,
so you'll probably hear collocations like honestly think personally.
Think, hate to think, dread to think,
and shudder to think. Let's take a closer look with some examples.
I honestly think the best thing you can do is replace your old desktop with a
new laptop.
I personally think you shouldn't quit your job until you're 100% sure you have a
new one. The lifeguards rescued him just in time.
I shutter to think about what would happen if they hadn't.
In all three of those examples, I'm using those collocations,
those words that naturally go together.
Now in addition to those collocations that use the word think when we're
expressing our opinion,
we have a few other groups of words that are helpful to know as well.
For example,
in my opinion or I strongly believe that here are two more that may be new to
you. I take the view that for example,
I take the view that if you are kind,
kindness will come your way or I subscribe to the theory that I subscribe to the
theory that everything happens for a reason.
Now that you've got some collocations for expressing your opinion or what you
think.
Now let's look at some collocations for when you need some time to think.
For example,
someone asks you a question and you're not sure what you want to say immediately
or if you get an email and you need a day or two to think about a question
before you can respond. Here are some great collocations you can use.
I need to think carefully about that or I need to give it some thought.
I need to have a hard think.
So here are some fun examples using those collocations.
After the meeting she thought long and hard about how to improve their strategy.
Clearly after that injury you need to have a long,
hard think about whether you should continue racing. I appreciate your offer.
I'll definitely give it some thought. Again,
the more of those collocations you use those groups of words that go together,
the more naturally you're going to sound when you communicate in English. Okay,
so we've got collocations for saying what you think and some collocations for
when you need some time to think. What about what other people think?
Here are some great ones you can use. Common knowledge,
widespread belief and opinions are divided.
Here are some examples for how to use them.
It's common knowledge that she's the strongest athlete on the team.
There is widespread belief that vinegar will ease jellyfish stings,
but actually hot water is much better. Not sure what a jelly,
here's a great picture of one.
Opinions are divided on what color we should paint the new office,
should it be green or blue?
And finally for today's focus of collocations on expressing what you think.
Sometimes you're thinking about something and you just don't have a good feeling
about it or you're worried and you need a way to express that in conversation.
Here are some fantastic collocations to help you do that,
to have a nagging doubt or a nagging feeling or to be wrestling with an issue.
Again, here are some examples.
Imagine that you've just left for vacation and the plane takes off and you
think, Ooh,
I have this nagging feeling that I forgot something important at home,
and if there's a huge challenge that you're dealing with at work, you might say,
I've been wrestling with this problem all week. Now in today's lesson,
I've given you many different examples of collocations for talking about what
you think, what to say. When you need time to think,
talking about what others think,
and when you're thinking and you have those concerns or doubts in your mind,
in the online lesson,
you'll find all of these collocations and more so that you can review them and
really practice them.
And of course I've got some challenge questions for you to help you do that.
Now before I share those questions,
if you enjoy today's lesson and found it useful to you, I would love to know,
and there are three simple ways that you can tell me. Number one,
give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to this channel so you
don't miss any future lessons. Number two, share it with friends,
family members and coworkers on Facebook.
And if you know someone who really needs some help with communicating more
naturally and English, email this lesson to them. They would love that.
Now let's get to the challenge questions so that you can practice what you've
learned and really put it into use so it's part of your everyday vocabulary.
Question number one,
what could you say to a friend who has a really difficult decision to make?
And it sounds like they need some time to think about it. And number two,
what collocation could you use to express what you think about climate change?
As always, you can share your answers,
questions and thoughts with me in the comment section. Just below this video.
It's the best place to share,
get feedback and to learn from others and the confident English community.
With that, thank you so much for joining me.
Be sure to watch for more lessons on collocations in the future and I'll see you
soon in the next Confident English lesson.