You're learning with nine to five English - Business English for the workplace.
Hi, Tim here with another 925 English lesson.
In today's lesson we're
going to learn how to talk about similarities.
Every day we compare products, companies, jobs - all kinds of things!
We talk about how they are different and how they are the same or similar.
So how can we say two things are equal or exactly the same.
For example, what if you want to say two people are the same height.
One easy way is to say as tall as.
For example Tom is as tall as John.
You can do this with any adjectives. You might say as smart, as as difficult
as, or as cheap as. Want to give this a try? Let's start with an example of the
expression we just learned. Then we'll try some other expressions for saying
two things are the same. Listen to each example then repeat it yourself. Ready?
Let's get started.
My old phone is just as good as your new one.
The Samsung and the LG TVs are about the same in quality.
There is no real difference between these two products.
In my opinion this and the red one are equally nice.
How was that? Besides as good as we also heard two things can be about the same
or there's no real difference between them. That's pretty easy right? And in the
last example we heard two things can be equally nice. Saying equally nice is just
like saying as nice as. And in the same way you can say equally difficult
equally expensive or equally anything else. Now some things are the same but
some things are just similar. When I think of similar things I often think of
me and my brother. Similar appearance, similar personality, similar beliefs. Not
exactly the same, just similar. That word similar is useful. I might say my brother
and I are similar or quite similar or very similar. Or I might say I am like my
brother or I look like my brother. That means we are similar or we look similar.
How about some more practice? This time we'll try saying two things are similar
rather than exactly the same. Once again repeat the examples after you hear them
The new Kia minivan looks kind of like a Toyota Sienna.
This website is quite similar to our competition's site.
Both Dave and Kathy are from the Midwest.
I prefer afternoon meetings and so does Tom.
Great work! And did you notice that
expression both Dave and Kathy? That's a great way to say something is true about
two people. For example both my brother and I live in New York. There's another
easy way to say something is true about two people. You just need the words so do
or so does. For example I live in New York and so does my brother.
All right we've practiced lots of expressions for showing how two things are the same
or similar. Well not just two things we also practiced comparing people with these
expressions. But how does all this sound in a conversation? Let's listen to a
short dialogue between Juan and Ellen. Juan is asking Ellen to compare some new
laptops to their old ones.
What do you think of these new laptops?
They look quite similar to our old ones.
In design maybe but what about quality?
Well I think the old ones are just as good as these new ones.
As you heard Ellen starts
by saying the laptops are quite similar in general. And when asked about quality
she uses the expression just as good as to show they're the same quality.
Now it's your turn to practice. We'll repeat the dialogue but this time we're going
to beep out the second speakers words. You will have to say those parts yourself.
Remember to start by saying the laptops are quite similar. Then you'll say how
they're equal in terms of quality. Here we go.
What do you think of these new laptops?
In design maybe but what about quality?
All right that about does it for this lesson.
we've learned some great ways to talk about how things are similar or the same.
In our next lesson we'll learn about the opposite idea talking about how things
are different. Until then so long and happy learning!