Hi friends I’m Rachna and I’m back with a new lesson. Well maybe, we could learn something
new; perhaps we could learn something new today. Yes this is what todays lesson is about,
you’re going to learn, how to use perhaps in a sentence. I’m sure you’ve heard it
many times. So what does perhaps mean? Perhaps is a formal way of saying maybe
and maybe as in one word, Maybe. So sometimes we aren’t sure about something or you want
to say there’s a possibility, maybe. So when you want to say maybe in a more formal
way, we use perhaps. So perhaps we have met before. I happened to meet John at an exhibition
and I couldn’t really place him, but I feel that I have seen him before, so I say maybe
we have met before. That means perhaps. There is a possibility I’m not sure, so you use
perhaps when you are not certain about something. So that means maybe we have met before, perhaps
not too sure. There were perhaps three fifty people at the seminar. Now in this sentence
you can see, we are talking about a number, so we use, you can use perhaps before a number
or an amount that you’re not sure of, you’re not certain, but perhaps like maybe about
around three fifty people, so you use perhaps between an amount or a number that you are
not sure of, so I can tell you there were perhaps a dozen children in the queue. That
means around a dozen, I’m not too sure of the exact number, but perhaps a dozen. So
use perhaps before a number or an amount that you are not sure of or that you are not certain
about. So remember you can use perhaps before an amount or a number, that you are not sure
about. So it’s like about three fifty people. You don’t look well, perhaps you should
go to the doctor. Now here perhaps, yes it does mean maybe, but here it’s like giving
advice or suggestion to someone. So while you don’t look well, perhaps you should
go to the doctor. So when you wanna give advice, suggestions subtly, you don’t wanna come
across very harsh or you know imposing, say perhaps to lighten it, so perhaps you should
go to the doctor. Give advice or suggestion, well here you may use perhaps, so remember
when you want to give advice or suggestion, please feel free to use perhaps. Perhaps it
would be better, if he resigns from his position of his job. Now we are talking about a friend
of mine, who’s into this kind of mess at work, so I feel personally that it would be
better if he resigned. So this is a condition sentence, it would be better, if he resigned.
But I don’t wanna be, it may just sound very harsh, you know like leave your job to
lighten it to soften it, of course this is like you know maybe, he should leave his job,
its better. So for that I use perhaps and remember like I always say, it’s more formal.
So you don’t come across as very harsh, so it’s pretty soft, perhaps it would be
better, if he resigned from his position. So definitely it is probably a suggestion,
but it’s a very subtle one and not too harsh. And the last one, it is perhaps not a good
idea for a seven year old to use a calculator. Well, we all know this, when we were in school
our teachers never allowed us to use calculators. We had to put on our thinking caps and work.
Do you remember? Well, I remember my school days, it was so. So it is perhaps, you’re
not too sure, you’re not certain, so you say maybe it’s not a good idea for a seven
year old to use a calculator. Not sure, not certain, but well maybe, it doesn’t sound
right for a seven year old to use a calculator. So to be formal, use perhaps. So well this
is how we use perhaps, it is more formal way of saying maybe. You can use it in front of
a number or an amount that you’re not too sure of; we do use it to give advice and suggestion.
Even more to make it very subtle and not sound very harsh, you can use perhaps. Well, friends
this brings me to the end of this lesson. Perhaps you enjoyed watching it; please do
put in your comments and queries. I’ll be back soon till then take care and bye.