Hi and welcome back to Love English. I'm Leila and in today's lesson
we are going to be looking at expanding your vocabulary,
building and broadening your vocabulary to express yourself in different ways it
is however, so important that when you are
learning synonyms and alternative phrases that
you understand the different contexts
situations that you can use them in particularly
when it comes to formal and informal english so in
today's lesson we are going to look at avoiding... yes
avoiding saying two of the most common words that we would often use in
English I know and I understand now these words are essentially synonyms
of each other to know is to be aware
through inquiry observation or information. Now why am i
suggesting that you stop using ...that you don't say' I know or i
understand' anymore well first of all as I said before it's just simply about
broadening your vocabulary about learning new ways to express the
same thing however these expressions and
alternative words that i'm going to give you
also have slightly different connotations
different meanings subtle differences and therefore they'll be able to help
you show empathy and understanding in a better and maybe
more sincere way to help you avoid sounding like a smart-arse to basically say I know, I know, i
understand all the time can really make you sound
like you're a bit of a know-it-all that you think you know
everything but the truth is rarely do we. So let's get started 16
around about 16 alternative phrases and words to use in replace of
i know or i understand so i'm going to start with some more
informal colloquial expressions that we can use
rather than i know and in fact some of these
i would say are even slang so let's get started number one one of the
most common expressions that we would use to
express our understanding and knowledge of something is i get it
i get it and it is really that simple get means to understand you could say
i get it or you could even say i get you i get you now listen carefully to my
pronunciation it's rare that i would say i get you
i get you but rather i condense my words and you will hear the t becomes
more of a d and the u becomes ya i get ya
i get ya so i get it or i get you and you don't have to
enunciate that t sound i get you if you want to
sound rather posh but as it is more colloquial
i get you i get it number two and i would say this is even more informal
gotcha gotcha so i got you very similar to i get it
but definitely more colloquial more informal and
spoken english perhaps in a text message but certainly not in a formal situation
gotcha gotcha what time are we meeting tonight
8 30 gotcha number three a fabulous
expression and definitely one that is more informal
i catch adrift i catch your drift or i get your drift i get your drift
she isn't the sharpest tool in the box if you get my drift
the sharpest tool in the box is an idiomatic expression to say that
somebody isn't very intelligent she isn't the sharpest
tool in the box if you catch my drift if you get my drift means she's not that
clever if you understand what i'm saying number four a great way to really show
that you are listening and that you are trying to understand
someone to show empathy even i hear what you're saying
i hear what you're saying now often we would use this expression
when actually we're about to disagree with someone so you want them to
understand that you understand but it doesn't make much
difference and you still disagree i hear what you're saying but i really
can't agree with you number five to get the picture
to get the picture and again this is saying that you understand the full
situation someone is trying to explain something
to you trying to make sure that you're aware of the entire situation and you
can say i get the picture it's all right don't
say anymore i get the picture i understand your
explanation number six a great way to say that you
understand why somebody has done something
or thinks in a certain way i don't blame you for feeling disappointed
you worked really hard you deserve the promotion more than bob
so i don't blame you meaning i understand
why you acted reacted or feel that way i don't blame you use this expression
when you are trying to show empathy and understanding for somebody's
situation number seven i managed to grasp
i managed to grasp or did you manage to grasp
manage implies that doing something is difficult that it requires
effort trying and to grasp is to hold something with your full hand in a
tight way so you can grasp i don't know a child's
hand when you're crossing the street to make sure they don't run off
so manage to grasp this implies that there's some difficulty in
actually understanding the situation i managed to grasp what she was saying
but really her explanation was totally confusing
so i managed to grasp to understand something but
with a certain amount of difficulty now moving on
to more neutral and then more formal expressions
to notice to notice to become conscious aware of something
i noticed he didn't look very happy at the party last night
so here you're saying that you became aware by observing
you noticed something i noticed him at the party
i know he was there so to become conscious of someone or something
i noticed the information in the report was a little bit
inaccurate perhaps you could correct it for me
number nine i've actually been using this word quite a lot
and it's essentially a synonym of no to choose to use
a where to choose to use aware implies that the situation
is perhaps a little bit more serious we are starting to sound a bit
more formal i'm aware that she was late yesterday and i will be dealing with the
situation so i'm aware rather than i know
i'm aware i have the knowledge of this thing this situation
i'm aware it exists number 10 to realize realize this
again a little bit like aware suggests a more
serious nature to the situation and often it's suggesting that you've become
aware of something quite suddenly do you realize how
important this meeting is do you realize how important this
meeting is i do realise how important this meeting
is a little grammar tip for you there using
the auxiliary verb do or does she does realize
stresses the importance and puts emphasis
so i do realize you're really strengthening
your response you don't have to but often we do use the auxiliary verb do
in the affirmative to stress importance i do realize how hard you've worked but
really you need to work harder number 11 to appreciate appreciate
to understand a situation and to realize its
importance so this is a great word to use when you are trying to be a quite
formal or b maybe more polite and empathetic
i appreciate how hard you have worked but really
i can't offer you a pay rise at the moment so i understand
i realize the importance of this situation your request
but i still can't give you more money i appreciate how hard you have worked
but i really can't give you a pay rise at the moment
number 12 to recognize recognize to accept something is
legal important or true often again a little bit like appreciate we
are referring to the importance of something
we are empathizing we're showing our understanding
and that for somebody else raising an issue perhaps
this is an important thing you must recognize the seriousness of the
situation we're facing here we may go into liquidation number 13 to
acknowledge acknowledge to recognize something the existence of
the truth but particularly in the case of using i know and i
understand we would use acknowledge in a very formal situation
perhaps even in a written formal email or letter
you can use acknowledge with a gerund or a noun
such as she acknowledged having been at fault she acknowledged her mistakes
all that and a phrase she acknowledged that she had made
many mistakes so really quite serious there and to accept something to be
true to recognize something to acknowledge 14. comprehend
comprehend a synonym very simply of understand but
much more formal and it implies that you understand something
completely i failed to comprehend their attitude
meaning i can't understand at all their attitude their behaviour
i don't think you comprehend just how serious the situation is
we may need to fire people number 15 i'm actually giving you two here for the
price of one because they are very similar i see your point and i
take your point i see your point and i take your point
now we often use these phrases when we want to show that we understand that we
have listened and we accept what someone has
said however we don't necessarily agree with
what they have said i see your point however i still feel we
need to make cuts to the budget i take your point however i still feel
we need to make cuts to the budget so two great expressions when you're
ready to understand but you still disagree number 16 and
this probably is the most formal of all the
expressions i have given you as well as the fact that it's actually
in the passive voice you're saying that you understand
or you know about something because somebody else
has told you it has been brought to my attention it
has been brought to my attention it has been
brought to my attention that you have failed to be on time every day this
week meaning i understand and i know because somebody else has told me
it's been brought to my attention that you haven't completed
your assignment this week any reason why not
now this is also a great and more formal expression to use
in written english so maybe again in full emails or letters
it has been brought to my attention and remember when
speaking you can still contract it's been
it's been brought to my attention and there we have it
quite a few expressions plenty of informal plenty of formal
to help you in whatever situation you may find yourself
in remember when you say i know or i understand you want to sound a little
bit more polite remember using these expressions
as an alternative to i know or i understand is going to help you
sound less of a smartass that you know everything
and certainly help you show that you are understanding someone
trying to understand someone empathize with them
but it doesn't always mean you have to agree
so there we have it if you have any more expressions like these that you think
i've missed out then comment below and certainly as always try using these
expressions in sentences of your own comment below and practice i will
correct your english and grammar if you need it in the meantime keep
watching we've got plenty more lessons where that came from
and i'll be seeing you very soon thanks for watching
bye