Hey, it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English.
Why do you think native speakers sound so different when they communicate?
What makes them sound fluent or what makes some of your coworkers and friends
who speak English as a second, third, or fourth language,
what makes them sound so fluent and natural in English?
One of the biggest reasons is native speakers put their words together
differently. Have you ever heard the word collocation in English?
It's a very technical word,
but a collocation is a group of words that naturally go together.
These are the things that just sound right when you hear them.
For example, if you introduce yourself to someone for the very first time,
you might say something like, hi, my name's Annemarie.
It's ___ to meet you. What word should I use?
It's ___ to meet you.
You probably said it's nice to meet you.
Why did you choose that word?
Why didn't you say it's a joy to meet you?
Nice to meet you, joy to meet you.
They mean almost exactly the same thing,
but only one of them is what native speakers would use.
Today you're going to learn 10 common collocations that native speakers use
using the word say,
and today's lesson is super fun. It's a little bit like a quiz.
As we go through these examples,
I'm going to test you and I want to see if you can get all 10 of them correct,
so be sure to watch to the very end to see how you do. All right.
Before we dive in and start learning these new collocations,
if you like this topic,
if you want to learn more complications to boost your advanced vocabulary sound
more natural and more fluent when you communicate.
I did a similar lesson on this topic a few months ago on collocations using the
word think, so you can check that out. I'll leave a link just below this video.
Also, be sure to subscribe to this channel so you never miss a future confident
English lesson and you'll get all my future lessons on collocations as well.
But now let's get started with collocations using the word say question number
one.
Imagine it's Saturday night and you've just had a fantastic dinner with some of
your friends. As you get ready to leave and to say goodbye to your friends,
you want to tell them that you had a great time.
So in this sentence,
which word would you use as a collocation with the word say,
I can say this has been a fabulous evening.
Do you know which one naturally goes with the words?
Say the right answer is B. I can honestly say.
Honestly say is often used with the modal verb can and when we use them
together, it's a way of saying, I'm telling you the truth.
When I tell you that I had a fabulous time,
for example, I can honestly say I tried my best.
Can you honestly say that you love your job?
We can honestly say this has been the best vacation we've ever had.
All right. Question number two.
One of your colleagues recently stepped up and supported you in a really
difficult project recently.
It's the end of the day at your office and your colleague is getting ready to
leave, but you want to say thank you before they do so,
which collocation would you choose?
I say thanks for all the help.
What do you think the correct answer is? C,
I just wanted to say thanks for all the help. When we use this collocation,
it means that you would like to say something quickly and using those words
together sounds perfectly natural. For example,
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your support.
I just wanted to say I really love that gift. Thank you so much.
Oh, I don't think we've met yet. I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself.
Ready for question three. Imagine this really terrible situation.
You have two colleagues at work that do not like each other.
They're always arguing, they don't get along,
and it's really difficult for the whole team to work together and finish things
on time.
When you're talking about the relationship between these two colleagues,
what collocation would you use here?
It's say they're not friends.
Hopefully you chose answer a, it's fair to say they're not friends.
When we use fair to say it means that something is probably true.
For example,
it's fair to say no one likes paying taxes or it's fair to say everyone loves
going on vacation. These are statements that are probably true.
How are you doing so far?
Let's go onto question four and continue to test your knowledge on these
collocations with the word.
Say what if there was a huge argument happening at work and someone asks your
opinion on it, but you're trying to avoid giving your opinion,
which collocation would you use?
In this example I have say on this matter I'm staying out of it.
The best answer is, C. I have nothing to say on this matter.
I'm staying out of it. When you use, I have nothing to say.
It usually means that you are choosing not to say something or you're choosing
not to share your thoughts.
You'll probably hear a lot of famous people and politicians use this
collocation. When a journalist asks a really tough question,
you'll often hear, I have nothing to say at this time. Now.
Question number five is a bit of the opposite. If your friend says this to you,
what does she mean? I can't believe she did that.
You should really say something. When someone says,
you should say something, what does it mean?
The best answer here is a,
when someone says you should say something,
or if I'm at a restaurant and I say I should say something to the manager,
we often use this when we need to confront someone or stand up and speak out
about an issue. Number six,
let's test your knowledge on a very similar collocation to have something to
say. What do you think it means in this example sentence?
Oh my gosh, when she sees this mess,
she's definitely going to have something to say in this example.
To have something to say means she's going to be angry about it.
In fact, the person might be so angry that they're going to yell about it.
And number seven,
let's look at one more collocation that uses the word something and say together
we have,
you should say something or I should say something to have something to say.
And now in these examples sentences,
what do you think the collocation says something about means what you do under
pressure says something about you.
Our homes and the way we designed them says something about us.
The career you chose says something about you.
Since we know that homes and careers and actions that we take can't talk,
they can't speak.
This collocation means that something indirectly shows the kind of person that
we are. What kind of qualities or characteristics we have.
So how you act under pressure shows,
whether you're someone who's calm and level headed and can deal with stressful
situations or it can show that you're someone who freaks out and doesn't know
what to do.
Your home design can show whether you're the kind of person that loves modern
design and furniture or if you prefer antiques and traditional architecture.
Now. This next one is questions eight and nine together. We
have two collocations using the word say that can mean obviously and of course,
which ones do you think have that meaning? It goes without saying.
Needless to say,
no saying I'm not saying which two do you think are correct.
A and B are correct. They can both mean obviously or of course,
and here are a few examples of how to do that.
We had a terrible argument last month and I didn't talk to her for weeks,
but needless to say, I forgave her and we're still really good friends.
In this example. It means of course,
or obviously I forgave her and we're still friends.
She's afraid of needles. So needless to say, she probably won't become a doctor.
Now if you have any problems,
it goes without saying that you can call me anytime.
And finally for question number 10 we have this old saying that parents all over
the world teach their children. Can you identify the missing words?
If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
These are really wise words that can help us avoid terrible situations by just
choosing to stay quiet instead of saying something rude or mean.
Now I've got a challenge for you.
Your best friend was treated unfairly by a colleague at work.
What could you say to your friend using one of the collocations that you've
learned today?
You can share your answer to that question with me in the comments just below
this video.
It's a fantastic way to immediately practice what you've learned today. Again,
if you enjoyed this lesson,
I recommend watching my video on collocations with the word think and be sure to
subscribe to this channel so you never miss a future Confident English lesson.