Hello, hello.
Welcome to today's live English lesson here on the Speak English with Vanessa YouTube
channel.
I'm Vanessa, and today we're going to be talking about using advanced sentence structure specifically
to ask polite questions.
So, I hope that today you'll be able to use this English concept and as you have conversations,
hopefully you're having English conversations, you'll be able to use this spontaneously and
naturally and you'll be able to speak advanced English.
This is a live English lessons, so if you're joining me live, thanks so much.
I have live lessons occasionally.
There's always a new lesson here on my YouTube channel every Friday.
Sometimes it's a live lesson, sometimes it's not, but thanks everyone for joining me from
Mexico, Tanzania, Hungary, Argentina, Kashmir.
Thank you so much for taking time today to join me.
We're going to be talking about the sentence structure "would you rather" in order to introduce
another idea.
Because if you don't like someone's idea, you don't want to say, "No, no, no.
I don't want to do that.
Instead, you want to politely suggest something else.
So, we're going to be talking about this and playing a little game.
Have you ever heard of the 1960s TV show The Newlywed Game?
This was a game show that I think is the longest-running game show that started in the 1960s and it
featured a newly married couple.
The game show host asked the couple some questions to see how well they knew each other.
So today, I'd like to ask you some of these questions, specifically with the sentence
structure "would you rather".
I'm going to answer these questions.
I'm going to give you some samples, but I want you to try to write an answer to the
three questions we're going to talk about today and try to use English.
It's great if I'm using it, but it's even better if you're using it.
That's how you're going to improve.
And if you enjoyed this kind of game show style lesson, you can join me for even more
of this game show style because in September 2018, which is coming in one day ... It's
tomorrow.
Wow.
Starting tomorrow, September first in 2018, the lesson set for the Fearless Fluency Club
is about this game show idea.
I was the host, and I interviewed my sister and brother-in-law and I asked them some of
these newly wed questions to see how well they knew each other.
Some of them they got correct, some of them they didn't get correct.
It's just a great way to have a conversation and to expand your listening skills and your
knowledge.
So if you'd like to join me this month in the Fearless Fluency Club, you'll be able
to continue to learn with this model.
There's a link in the description.
Make sure that you use the coupon code new so that you can get the first month for $5.
This is a $30 discount because usually each month is $35.
All right.
Are you ready to start with the first question?
My first question, I want you to write this question in the comments.
My first question is, would you rather ... Make sure that you spell that correctly.
R-A-T-H-E-R.
Would you rather live in a cold climate or a warm climate?
Here we're using this great vocabulary word, climate.
It just means the temperature of the area where you live.
A cold climate might be like Canada, or Finland, or maybe Russia, or maybe a northern area
in your country.
Would you rather live in a cold climate, it's cold most of the time, or would you rather
live in a warm climate?
It's warm most of the time, usually in the south of your country.
Now, let's make sure that you're answering this question with the correct grammatical
structure.
Make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."
If you say simply warm, okay, I understand what you mean, but you're not expanding your
advanced grammatical structures.
So, make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."
If you could write this in the chat box, that would be great so that other people can see
this full sentence and also learn with you.
So you could say, "I would rather live in a cold climate," or you can be even more natural
and you can say I'd, "I'd rather live in a warm climate."
Here we're making a contraction.
I would becomes I'd.
I'd rather live in a warm climate.
Now, in the game show, they asked one partner this question and then they said, "What do
you think your wife will say to this question?"
And they had to guess for each other.
Here, we don't have that kind of situation.
If you'd like to see more of that game show style, you can join the course and see the
game show situation.
But, this is a great way to just ask and answer in a polite way.
I'd rather live in a warm climate.
That's true for me.
I'm not a big fan of winter.
It's not really my favorite season.
I like fall, but if I lived in a place that had cold weather for the majority of the time,
I think I'd be a little blue.
I'd probably get sad pretty easily.
And I just like wearing short sleeve clothes, and being freer, and not having to be bundled
up all the time.
Bundled up is a great phrasal verb.
That means you're wearing a lot of clothes.
All right.
Let's move on to the second would-you-rather question.
This one is a little crazier, so turn up the crazy a little bit.
It is, would you rather like to have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck?
This one's a little crazy, but it's a fun hypothetical idea.
Hypothetical means that it's not realistic.
You can't really have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck.
So here, let me quickly explain these vocabulary words that I used.
A tail, you probably know what that is, the tail of a monkey.
But also webbed feet, W-E-B-B-E-D, webbed feet.
When a duck swims, it doesn't have hands, it has webs between.
It's kind of like its fingers so it can swim more easily.
So, I want to know for you, would you rather have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like
a duck?
What would you answer in a polite way?
How could you make a full sentence?
You could say, and this is the answer for me, "I'd rather ... " I made the contraction.
"I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because I could swim fast.
That would be amazing, and I could hide it a little bit easier when I'm in public, so
it's a little bit less embarrassing."
We could make a negative sentence.
I talked about what I'd rather have.
I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.
But what if I want to talk about the opposite one?
Can you make a sentence talking about the opposite choice, the one that you don't want?
How could we make this sentence negative?
You might say, "I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey."
We're simply adding the word not.
I'd rather not.
Great.
This is a simple way.
So, I want to know for you, can you make a negative sentence talking about the choice
that you didn't want?
This is a good challenge to try to make a positive sentence and also a negative sentence.
I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey because it would be kind of difficult to hide and
maybe it'd be a little bit more socially embarrassing or awkward, and I think it would be less useful.
So in my quick explanation, I used a lot of hypothetical words.
I said, "It would be less useful."
I used would to talk about a situation that's not real.
I'm imagining it would be less useful.
It wouldn't be as helpful.
It would be more socially embarrassing.
I'm using would to talk about something hypothetical.
I'd like to challenge you, if you would like to have a conversation with another friend
or someone else in English, take some of these would-you-rather questions.
You can find plenty of other questions on the internet.
Just type "would you rather questions" and ask each other, or even ask yourself, and
try to write an answer.
Say it out loud and use this advanced grammatical structure.
I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.
I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey.
This is going to help you to use the structure as much as you can.
And it's kind of funny, especially if you give some explanations.
I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because ... Using the word because just makes it easier
to continue your sentence and make it more complex.
You could say webbed feet, simple answer, no explanation, but really, that's not helping
you improve too much so you can say a full sentence.
I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck, but you could make it even better if you say,
"I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because," and then you give an explanation.
Do you see how you can build on the base of the sentence?
Your answer is the base of the sentence, webbed feet like a duck, and then you're expanding
on that to make your sentence more complex.
Because I'm sure for you, you've learned a lot of grammatical structures, but maybe you
don't always use them.
So when you expand your sentences like this, you're giving yourself the chance to use them
and remember that.
Okay, let's go to the third question.
The third question is a little bit less crazy, but it's a beautiful thought.
I want to know, and please write this question in the comment so that other people can see
the question, would you rather instantly become fluent in English, instantly, or would you
rather instantly get $1,000?
This is US dollars.
Would you rather instantly speak English fluently or instantly have $1,000?
I'm curious what your answer for this would be.
For me, it's a little bit different because English is my native language, but if I chose
another language, let's say Portuguese, would I rather instantly speak Portuguese fluently
or have $1,000?
I think I would choose Portuguese.
I'd rather instantly speak another language fluently than have $1,000.
For me, the skill of speaking another language is worth $1,000.
It's worth more than $1,000 to me.
Maybe for you it's different.
Maybe for you your English level is high enough that $1,000 would be more useful to you or
maybe more helpful for you.
A lot of you said, "I'd rather speak English fluently."
So, let me give you a quick way that you can expand this sentence.
I just used it a moment ago when you want to include both answers in your sentence.
I'd rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.
We're using the word than, T-H-A-N, not T-H-E-N, T-H-A-N.
Here you're saying the thing that you want and then you're contrasting it with the thing
that you don't want.
I'd rather have ... I'd rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.
Beautiful.
This is another option.
The first option was you can just add because.
I'd rather speak English fluently because it's my dream.
It's my love.
It will help me get a better job.
Great.
This is just adding because, but you could also contrast it with the other answer, I'd
rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.
Beautiful.
This is a great way to use I'd rather in a polite way.
I'd like to give you a quick final scenario when this might be used in daily conversation.
So let's imagine that you are visiting London.
I hope that you get that opportunity.
It's a really cool place.
It's not where I'm from.
I'm from the US.
I live in the south east, but I have visited London several times.
Let's imagine that you are in London with your best friend and you're trying to decide
where you should go for dinner and your friends suggests, "Let's go to this Indian place."
Indian food is amazing in London, so your friend says, "I'd rather ... " or, "I'd like
to go to the Indian place," but you're not really feeling like you want to have Indian
food.
So, how can you politely suggest that you want something else?
Well, you could use our phrase of the day.
You could say, "Well, I think I'd rather have fish and chips.
I'd rather have this classic English dish."
I'd rather, plus the verb, I'd rather go to the pub.
I'd rather have fish and chips.
This is so polite, and you're just giving another option.
You're not saying, "No, I don't want to eat Indian food.
That's a silly idea."
You're not being rude.
You're just politely suggesting what you want.
"I think I'd rather have fish and chips.
Let's go there."
Beautiful.
I hope that you can use this when you're suggesting other ideas and suggesting other things.
Thank you everyone who's given great sentences here in the chat box.
A lot of you said that you'd like to speak English fluently.
You'd rather speak English fluently, but some of you said you'd rather have a thousand dollars.
So, I have some good news for you.
You don't have to spend a thousand dollars to become fluent in English.
The first thing that you need is motivation.
Great.
That's free.
The second thing that you need is material.
It could be movies.
It could be TV shows.
There's a lot of videos on my channel that you can use to learn.
I even give some suggestions for movies, and TV shows, and podcasts that you can listen
to.
This is all free material.
We're so lucky to have access to the internet.
Or if you would like a more structured plan, for me, I think this is the benefit of buying
and purchasing, joining a course is having structure.
Someone, the teacher usually, has created and formulated a plan to help you step by
step improve your English in a logical way, in a way that helps you to remember what you're
learning.
This is one of the best ways.
Because if you learn something here, and something there, and something there, it's hard to remember,
as you might know.
So when you are learning in a logical, ordered way, it's much easier to remember and it's
more enjoyable.
A great way to do this is by joining me in the Fearless Fluency Club.
Every month we have a new lesson set that follows this order, that follows this logical
organized order for learning new vocabulary, new grammar, pronunciation tips, and it all
focuses on a monthly conversation.
So in September 2018, the conversation is about these would-you-rather questions.
I asked some crazy questions to my sister and brother-in-law.
I asked them first to my brother-in-law.
He answered them about his wife.
Then, I asked my sister-in-law.
I asked her about her husband and then they both came together and talked about their
real answers and we saw, were their answers correct?
Did they guess correctly?
It was a really fun conversation.
On September first, you can download this conversation.
You can learn about new vocabulary that was used in it, some great grammar concepts, how
to ask questions politely.
That is our grammar focus for the September lesson set using would you rather, I'd like.
A lot of ways that you can politely ask questions, improving your pronunciation based on that
conversation.
All of it focuses on that conversation.
So, I hope that it will help your mind to focus and actually learn the material.
And if you would like to join me, there is a link in the description to the Fearless
Fluency Club.
Make sure, don't forget to use the coupon code, new.
New coupon code will give you a $30 discount.
Usually the course is $35 per month, but you can get a $30 discount and join the first
month for $5.
You can pay full price if you want.
Go ahead, but I'm sure you'd like to get a discount.
We all love to save money.
You don't need to spend $1,000.
So, I hope that you will enjoy the September lesson set.
And if you enjoy it and you would like past lesson sets, now, for the next four days,
you can buy the past six months of lessons.
This is the six-month lesson pack.
It includes lessons from February to July, 2018.
You can get this full pack of six months worth of lessons.
You can get that in the next couple of days for a 20% discount.
All of that information is in the description.
So whether you would like to join and get a new month, new lessons set every month or
you'd like to get a past lesson set pack, great.
This organized, logical, and fun way to learn will help you to improve your English.
Also, I will be there to help you step by step.
You can always ask me questions.
I want to be as present as possible to help you understand English and learn as much as
possible.
I hope for you, I hope you would rather learn English with motivation, with enjoyment, with
enthusiasm, and continue this day by day.
You can do that on YouTube.
You can do that in my course, the Fearless Fluency Club, or you can do that on your own.
The best way is to be self-motivated.
I hope that this lesson was useful to you.
Thank you so much for joining me.
I hope to see you again here on my YouTube channel.
You can subscribe to get new lessons every Friday.
Sometimes it's a live lessons, sometimes it's not.
But if you would like to join me here every Friday, make sure that you subscribe.
Before we go, I'd like to share my screen with you to show you a little sneak preview
into the September lesson set.
So let's take a look really quick, and I'm going to show you this September lesson set
so that you can check out this game show.
Here we have the conversation with my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law.
You're going to be able to watch this as much as you want.
Download it.
Review it.
Let's take a look, a sneak preview at this conversation.
All right, here we have my sister-in-law and my brother-in-law.
We're going to be talking about great vocabulary words.
I'm going to be testing my brother-in-law.
Does he know his wife?
And then we're going to be testing my sister-in-law.
Does she know her husband?
Then, we're going to get together and see how well they did.
Did they answer these questions correctly?
It's a fun, clever, enjoyable lesson.
I hope it will challenge your English.
You're also going to be able to study the vocabulary.
My husband Dan and I and make a vocabulary lesson that is about one hour.
You'll be able to study the vocabulary words and then also you can watch a little clip
from the conversation to see how it was used in the conversation.
Then, you can study the grammar lesson from September.
You'll be able to see how we can use polite, natural sentence structure and really improve
your grammatical structures.
Then, we'll focus on the pronunciation so that you can really pronounce exactly like
Brad.
We take four of his sentences and break it down.
Really study it in detail so that you can pronounce it as clearly as possible.
You also get access to the story, which is a combination of all of these concepts together.
You can review it, download it, study it as much as you want.
Because you can download the material, you can study on the train, study in the car,
wherever you'd like.
Oh, there's a lot of noise outside my window so you could study at any time.
All right, let's go back to the video really quick.
I want to let you know, if you enjoyed this lesson, continue studying with me.
If you have any questions, let me know in the comments.
I hope to see you to study this September lesson set with me in the Fearless Fluency
Club.
If you're watching this after September, good news.
There will be another lesson set every month so there'll be a new topic and something new
that you can study every month to keep you self-motivated.
That's the key.
Stay active, stay self-motivated, and be passionate.
It's really what's going to keep you going.
So thank you so much for joining with me, and I'll see you again next Friday for a new
lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye.
I'll see you later!