this is an all ears english podcast episode 1839 how to say that you predicted something in english
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are you that person who always predicts the ending of movies or even events in life today
learn how to say that you saw something coming and when not to say it in english
hey lindsay how are you doing great michelle i'm happy to be here and today's episode
is actually on youtube as well as on the podcast so we're on video feeling good hey
yes exactly exactly lindsay i have a question are you good at predicting the ends to tv shows
or movies or books like are you are you is that a talent of yours personally not me but
i do know people who are very good at it and it's uncanny michelle it's uncanny that's a great word
for our listeners for today what does that mean uncanny it's kind of like it's uncanny as like
surprising or like a very i don't know how would you explain uncanny it's probably a combination
of rare and hard to understand how good the skill is right like a high level of skill a
rare level of skill so i think it's uncanny the way some people can predict the ending or what's
going to happen what about you are you maybe we'll do an episode on this one because i also
feel like you use uncanny like oh you guys look exactly alike it's uncanny right yeah
kind of surprising and strange it's it is kind of a dynamic word it means a lot of things but it's
it's also very precise so it's a good one yeah well guys that is not what this episode is about
but we gave you an extra one in there yeah today we're talking about predicting the endings yeah
sometimes um i get excited because i think that i can predict the ending or or and sometimes i'm
good at it and sometimes i'm not okay but often when i do throw out a prediction dan gets mad at
me like don't even like you know just stick that idea in my head interesting okay okay he likes
to be surprised um and i and i like to like talk it out and be like oh they think this will happen
and um yeah interesting i love that that's so funny i mean yeah you do have to i will say and
we've done a whole episode on this right michelle we're going to send you guys to episode 1400
don't give away the ending how to keep tv show twist a surprise in english you should be really
careful this is like a social skill right to be careful not to you know in certain company
reveal what happens or what's going to happen in a scene especially tv series that everyone's into
right yeah exactly exactly so guys we are going to be getting into this idea of how can you
express that you did predict the ending just like that that moment of kind of glory like you yeah
i knew it um so uh we're gonna talk about that today so but before we get into it we
want to remind you to listen to aubrey and jessica over on the ielts energy podcast
they have so much experience over there so much wisdom to give and if you are taking the ielts
exam soon you're preparing for it this is perfect this is a perfect place to to learn exactly so
guys go over right now and type in ielts energy podcast and you will find it it's another yellow
podcast right the color is yellow and we are over there so hit follow on that podcast too
if you do need to prepare for ielts we have you covered all right good stuff michelle okay
let's get into it yes okay so um what's the first thing you can say all right i love this you can
say can't say i'm surprised and my intonation matters there too i think doesn't it michelle
yeah right right right so yeah i can't say i'm surprised now this could be for
many different things i mean um you know it could be for real life too um it could
be for predicting an ending of something so for example like i can't say i'm surprised
that they got together in the end yeah that's true right yeah real life or a movie for sure
um and i can you say that intonation again one more time for our listeners i will here
we go can't say i'm surprised yeah it's almost like you in that intonation i hear something
and it's almost like a wisdom or it's like a told you so right it's kind of a told you so
right right right exactly true it does have that kind of that kind of feel to it um or another
thing is like very direct straightforward i knew it or i knew that would happen and also the the
the intonation is important there too like you have to like i knew it i knew that would happen
i knew that would happen right here's a sample sentence so it ended with him moving to france oh
i knew that would happen and now michelle here's a question are these responses appropriate for
movies and tv shows and life too or is this really just more for movies and tv shows i think can't
say i'm surprised is um is appropriate for regular life too although i do think it has a tinge of
judgment to it you got to be careful with that yeah especially if the outcome is negative right
can't say i'm surprised yeah that that kind of sounds a little bit judgmental so be careful with
that one um i knew that would happen yeah you can use it as well um but i think i i like that one
sounds a little bit more tv movieish to me what do you think tv movie is i would say yeah because
it's kind of a spectator thing oh i knew that would happen you're making it a show it's not like
a life is life life is not a show you're watching right right yeah or like it could be about
watching a sports game like oh he got like he got rejected like i knew that would happen he always
fights you know yeah for sure a sports game would be a great example of that absolutely
yeah you're following it um okay i like this one this next one guys i saw that coming um
and you can add i saw that coming sorry i saw that one coming or i saw that one coming a mile away
yes so you can play around with it yeah i saw that coming i saw like yeah i i could see that coming
right like you can play around with that with that first part but you can add a mile away
on if you like and that basically that's a that's just a good expression in itself like a mile
away like very far yeah very far away i knew it basically for sure and here's the sample sentence
the ending was good but i saw it coming from a mile away so that means it was predictable right
some shows are just pretty predictable you know you know what's going to happen um right i just
tried episode one of the uh the sex in the city the update right the just like that yeah i watched
also the epis that episode yeah i mean i kind of wanted to finish it just because just for fun but
yeah i don't know it's okay i just feel like it's done it's been done 20 years ago like leave it in
the past you know some things don't need to be reborn and revived like it was great it was a
fun show at that time we don't need a 20-year update you know that's my opinion but yeah
i watched the first episode and then i don't i i don't think i will be watching it
that's the way that's gonna go yeah yeah i mean if i had nothing else to do but there are a lot
of things that i like to watch oh actually lindsay you like you like where i uh i love chris do you
know that jonathan van ness has a new like has a new solo show i didn't know that what's it about
i started watching it last night it's apparently off of he is a podcast called getting curious
yeah yeah yeah um and it's a tv version of it and it's on netflix and you if you like jonathan van
ness you'll like the show i just watched two last night oh wonderful i will definitely check that
out i like him a lot i love it fantastic all right very good very good all right so a little side
point there on the shows we're watching these days but it does tie in guys because you know
a lot of the stuff i saw in that first episode of that sex on the city series i saw it coming from
a mile away right it's predictable what's gonna happen in certain situations and when shows become
predictable is when they become less good right i mean the fact is society's changed a lot since the
90 oughts since the 2000s right and i think that show is trying to change with it but it doesn't
100 i don't know it's just so weird it's a weird moment because that's a little embarrassing you
know because they're talking about how old they've gotten and this and that and it's just like a
little cheesy and i don't know it just they're i mean they're not even old and um like they
it's it's like a lot of like oh my hair is gray now like it's just it's just no i know it's too
obvious into showing the age right like totally i don't know i wish they would leave some of the age
stuff out of it me too i i don't think that that stuff was needed like there was a comment
a lot of dialogue around miranda's hair that she's growing out her gray by the way which is
an expression in english growing out your gray means you don't dye your hair as an older woman
um and there was a lot of conversation about that debate oh you should die and it's tired
like we know she has gray hair move on you know a little forced it's a little forced i agree yeah
so anyways that's the last i'm going to say about that
but i agree so then you used already a couple times this word predictable so you can say that
was so predictable so you could say like so let me guess she won wow that was so predictable
exactly exactly and that doesn't necessarily make for good tv or good entertainment right
so michelle let's ask an opinion question here should you always you know if you're that person
that predicts the ending should you always say oh you knew that right that was so predictable
i could have seen that from a mile away should you say that is that good taste or what do you think i
don't think you want to be known for it and like because this is saying like oh i knew it like it
has like a little bit of a know-it-all feel yeah um i think if maybe like like let's say we're
watching something and uh you were like really surprised about the ending and i was just like
oh that was so predictable like it's a little annoying like yeah well it's fine but if you do
it all the time it's a little annoying yeah and maybe a little condescending at the same time
like how did i not know right it's like it feels like a little judgment even judgmental
even though you're not necessarily trying exactly exactly i love that so just be tactful
you know maybe depending on who you're around maybe if you're around your partner or something
and it's fine whatever they know who you are but if you're around new people and they're just
getting to know you maybe you don't want to seem like the person that knows everything all the time
right yeah yeah exactly exactly um so um let's do a little role play with this okay and and yeah
all right give it a go so uh here we are we just finished a tv show we were watching together okay
wow i can't believe that happened what an ending yeah it was good but i can't say i'm surprised
he never opened the message really i thought he would i don't know that was so predictable oh okay
uh well how about the final phone call i i knew that would happen yes i agree but it was still
emotional definitely i saw that one coming true it was kind of like i felt a bit of peer pressure to
share the moments that i was predicting because you seem to know everything about
you're like yes i knew this
um so that was funny so what did we use here michelle from our teaching what did we use all
right well i said i can't say i'm surprised he never opened the message uh-huh and then you said
i don't know that was so predictable you're also showing a bit of um disappointment that it was so
predictable right right right exactly exactly yeah so that's kind of that's kind of funny uh and then
so you said this is so predictable and then you said well oh well what about that you know the
final phone call i knew that would happen yeah i'm trying to like get to your level here of being
such a what's that expression when you can really predict everything that's going to be happening in
the future such a um i don't know we don't have it we don't have the word all right moving on
and then i said definitely i saw that one coming yes good stuff good stuff all right so what's the
takeaway for our listeners michelle today okay well this can be fun it can be fun to express
that you predicted something correctly or that something was predictable maybe in a way that
you're like yeah like something sometimes when things are too predictable it's not it's not as
much fun um so here you can express those things but don't use it all the time like yes everything
in your moderator yeah i use it in moderation so i think that that is the takeaway for today
i love that and guys remember just engage with these conversations right this is a great
easy thing to talk about and i do think we've said this before michelle we talk a lot about music
movie books tvs tv shows and things on this show but these help you bond immediately like even the
fact that you and i both saw that first episode of sex in the city we didn't really like it and
we bonded over that it's like it's an immediate connection point so open these conversations don't
be that person that always knows the ending but once in a while express that and that's kind of
cool that'll bring you closer to that person i love it absolutely all right well lindsay this
was fun and have a good rest of your day sounds good michelle talk to you soon bye all right bye
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