being vague in English sounds the most
natural because well imagine if we were
super specific all the time how old are
you twelve thousand days old yeah that
would be weird so here are some
expressions you can use when you don't
want to be precise exact you want to
express yourself better by being vague
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you can follow me on instagram twitter
and facebook at papa teach me and if you
want extra English practice you can join
this channel as a member or join my
patreon page my thingy really hers what
thingy the thingy the back of my throat
uvula yes that thingy thingy this is
what we affectionately call something
which we don't remember the name of or
we just want to be vague if you want to
talk about a part of a thing use bit for
example I broke the bit of my phone
which changes the volume I don't know
the name of this so I'll call it the bit
of my phone so we have different
expressions for different things for
example to be vague about numbers we use
these when you want to guess huge
amounts we use the term a ballpark
figure for example if you had to guess
the population of London give me a
ballpark figure how many people live in
London okay um the population of London
I don't know a ballpark figure maybe
four million a guesstimate this is a
portmanteau which means two words have
been combined to make one those two
words are guests and estimate some
people hate this word like hate with a
capital H hate this word however you
might hear it you might want to say it
it's your choice and you can use it like
this how much money do you think he
makes don't know no just like a
guesstimate I don't know he plays
football so like a guesstimate a million
pounds a day and when you give an
approximate number you can use these
expressions around about more or less
give or take number or so number or
thereabout
these all mean the same and are used in
the same way it's an approximate number
for example I went to sleep around 9
o'clock last night
not exactly 9 o'clock maybe a bit before
maybe a bit after and how many people
are you expecting at this meeting about
10 give or take a flight from London to
New York takes 8 hours or there abouts
there abouts is an interesting one we
can use it for numbers we can also use
it for a place when we don't want to be
exact about this place we want to say
well in this area for example I'm coming
to London now where shall I meet here
I'm I'll be in Oxford Street or
thereabouts all day just call me when
you're near in Oxford Street or in that
general area so let's practice I'll ask
you some questions answer me in the
comments using those expressions number
1 how tall do you think I am
number 2 how much do you think I weigh
number 3 what time did you wake up today
number 4
ballpark figure how much money do you
think the Queen has and number 5 if you
took the IELTS test right now what kind
of score do you think you would get 4
things concepts and ideas if someone
asks you to describe something by
comparing it to something else this is
how you do it it's blah blah blah or
something like that it's a kind of sort
of blah blah blah blah blah blah that
kind of thing for example my favorite
English food is a Yorkshire pudding now
when I describe this I have to compare
it to other things
umm Yorkshire pudding it's it's a kind
of savory pancake it's it's like a
pancake but a different shape and less
sugar that kind of thing so practice
tell everyone in the comments what these
things are
remember compare them to other
using those expressions what is an arepa
borscht locum what is so made what is
back so what is Majorca and what is
canola remember to be vague in your
comparisons adjectives but again it's
not the exact thing you want to be
imprecise a bit vague kind of sort of
you can use those with adjectives to
describe something example what color
are my eyes honestly it depends on the
weather in the summer my eyes are kind
of blurry or bluey greenish and in the
winter they're more greenish so they're
not exactly 100% blue and not exactly
100% green and maybe you noticed that
for adjectives you can add E or ish to
the end to make that adjective not exact
it's the room clean clean ish oh you
make music what type of music do you
make yeah it's like poppy drum and bass
II a bit metal ish well that sounds
terrible it is oh you went on a date
last night what was the guy handsome and
exactly I mean handsome so practice what
color are your eyes
what color is the sky in your country
today and describe the type of music
that your favorite musician or band
plays for actions you will hear this a
lot and it sounds natural to do example
wow you got a really good mark for your
test how did you do that I don't know I
just kind of studied really hard I just
sort of I just kind of saying that
sounds natural and you will hear it
often however this is a much more
informal way of speaking so don't use it
for interviews and don't use it for
formal conversations but definitely not
for writing so tell me how did you find
my youtube channel where you
just sort of searching for English
lessons and found me let me know thanks
for watching go be vague and I'll see
you in the next class
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you