hey everyone today we're learning all
about discourse markers which are also
known as
fillers you know i was thinking what if
i uh
unpack here then all your stuff would be
here
well
what if all my stuff was here then you'd
be going back and forth all the time i
mean
it doesn't make any sense what if we
live together and you understand what
i'm saying
[Music]
discourse markers certainly are one of
the most important aspects of fluent
speech
sure they might just look like space
fillers but we actually use them to
connect
manage and organize what we say they can
convey
subtle details and show the listener how
to interpret what the speaker is saying
guess what ben is going to be in a tv
commercial
what are you talking about well it's not
for sure but
um we met this guy in the park who
thought ben was really cute
you know which he is um anyway he gave
us his card and told us to bring him
down for this commercial he's
auditioning
whoa this guy's like the biggest
commercial casting director in town
ben takes one lousy walk in the park and
gets an audition
i mean way to go ben
they come in many shapes and forms they
can be words that you say
when you need time to think of what to
say like
uh or um
hey man what's up uh how much do you
guys want to see a movie tonight
sure what do you want to say well i
don't know um well i know how we can
decide phoebe show him your game
um no thank you um
isn't part of the grammar of a sentence
but it's definitely part of what you say
so that's a discourse marker there are a
lot of discourse markers and some of
them aren't always explained in an
explicit way
some of the most advanced english
speakers that i know have told me that
this is something they've acquired
or absorbed from being exposed to the
language
not something they've at least in most
cases consciously paid attention to
in this lesson our main goal is to help
you to understand the importance of
discourse markers
and we'll look at different types whilst
we will give you
some definitions what's more important
is that you
read and try to interpret what you'll
see
by the way in case you're new here we
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so first let's see some examples of the
most common discourse markers
well so look kind of
like all right you know anyway
actually now i mean
it's hard to think of a fluent speaker
that doesn't use i mean
or well let's see some examples
i mean we are way past the fling thing i
mean i am feeling things that i've only
read about in danielle's steel books you
know
i mean when i'm with him i just totally
totally
you know what now means as a discourse
marker it doesn't have a meaning of
present time rather it's used to direct
a conversation
signaling a new topic make sure you guys
get to the restaurant by eight
bernadette's meeting me there at 8 30
and i don't want to blow the surprise
we'll be there got it now um i have a
question about the song
i was thinking at some point i could
bust out a little rap
we'll watch two clips from friends in
one of them
now means at this moment and in another
one it's used as a discourse marker
in which clip is it a discourse marker
okay just
promise me that you won't do anything
stupid look we're just
friends now okay why would i do anything
stupid
okay everybody it's trifle time so
now rach this is a traditional english
trifle isn't it
if you chose this one you got it of all
discourse markers
like is probably the most controversial
one as it tends to be overused
i almost lost a job i did just lose a
gig
um because when you google me it's like
sexual misconduct stuff and like
that's really uh scary and again i don't
want to be like
you know who the real victim of harvey
weinstein is jamie kilstein
but like uh let me just stop you right
here if you say like one more time my
head's gonna explode
dude i get comments like that it's
brutal is it brutal is it as bad as
all right i'm gonna i just want you to
slow it down i'm gonna
use it every now and then slip this
coffee one that learners in particular
overuse is you know
if this is something you do look at it
as a habit you need to break
the first thing you need in order to
stop using it is realizing that you say
it too much
i just figured you know after living
with you it'd be an interesting change
of pace i have a female roommate you
know
someone i could learn from someone
someone who's different than me
also there's the thinking sound um
check out this example what's wrong with
you
nothing well i i got this blinding
pain in my stomach when i was lifting
weights before and then i uh
passed out and uh i've been able to
stand up since
but uh i don't think it's anything
serious
i've noticed that some of my students
keep the thinking sound that they make
in their native language
if you want to sound closer to a native
english speaker then this simple
modification
using um is going to make a big
difference
do you find it difficult to understand
fast speaking natives
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that we've gone over the most basic
and common discourse markers let's see a
few more
we've categorized them into two broad
categories
connectors and adverbs and adverbial
expressions
connectors are words or phrases that
help us to connect two ideas
within this category we have discourse
markers of result
reason purpose and contrast
we'll see a few examples of each and
will also include some example clips
discourse markers that help us connect
an idea as being a result
of another one are so as a result
therefore consequently so is the most
common one while the other three are
more formal and more common in writing
pratt is busy so let's just get started
to explain the reason for an idea or
action these are some of the discourse
markers that we use
i enjoy having breakfast in bed i like
waking up to the smell of bacon sue me
and since i don't have a butler i have
to do it myself
due to budget cuts my position as middle
school music teacher has been eliminated
so i've been working
as a high school sub to explain the
purpose of an idea or
action these are some of the discourse
markers that we use
two is the most common one you use it in
a sentence like they left early to catch
the 7 30 train
in order to or so as to are more formal
we've already talked about so as a
discourse marker of result but it's also
used for purpose
you can say it as so that or simply as
so in informal speech or writing
they traveled to miami so that they
could see their grandchildren
[Music]
we also commonly say in case to express
purpose
here you go pad thai no peanut does it
have peanut oil
i'm not sure everyone keep an eye on
howard in case he starts to swell up
since it's not b season you can have my
epinephrine
we use many discourse markers for
contrast
let's see some examples so your siblings
they don't experience the same
pressures you do oh god no they don't
care about school
why do you think that is i mean you all
grew up in the same house with the same
parents
yet you're the only one who feels this
enormous pressure to achieve at such a
high level
i should probably give you a heads up
about a couple things
even though he's retired from the police
force he still carries his gun
but don't worry he won't shoot it it's
more of a fashion statement
we also say in spite of or despite
it's just i have like no family left you
know i mean
except for my grandmother you know but
let's face it she's not going to be
around forever
despite what she says
if you aspire to speak english more
fluently
and understand fast speaking natives
then i highly recommend you check out
this lesson that we made
over on our real life english channel
you can click up here
or down in the description box below to
watch that lesson next
the next category of discourse markers
that we'll see
are adverbs and adverbial expressions
these are the ones that we'll see
speaking of is used to change the
direction of a conversation but making a
link to what has just been said
oh this is great i could do this for the
rest of my life
hey speaking speaking of things you do
for the rest of your life
uh did i read that you're on that that
tenure committee
yep i gotta get a home gym
to introduce additional surprising or
unexpected information we say
actually or in fact how did you how did
you get a girl like that
yeah so what is she like a like a spokes
model or aerobics instructor what
actually she's a paleontology doctoral
candidate specializing in the cenozoic
era
okay but that's like the easiest error
when you want to return to a previous
subject use
as i was saying
can i have everyone's attention please
uh
i'm uh i'm ross geller dr ross
geller dad please
that's all i was saying um i'm dr ross
geller
all in all is used to say that you're
taking everything into consideration
okay so we went out saw a movie
met some nice people said horrible
things about each other in public all in
all a pretty magical night
after all introduces a strong argument
that other people might not have taken
into consideration
from now on i want you to do whatever he
asks you to do
okay after all he is your uncle and um
i think we ought to just embrace that in
this clip see how besides is used to add
additional information
yeah i'm telling you he's really sweet
and he's really
funny and he's just oh he's got a good
heart and
besides you know i think he really likes
you
really basically is a very common one
which we use to introduce the most
important or fundamental point
basically you want to use one machine
for all your whites
okay a whole nother machine for for your
colors
we use the expression as far as
something is concerned
to talk about a new topic as far as the
weather is concerned we've been having
nothing but rain for the past week
you can also say as for i can get you a
job right here as an entry-level process
but don't you need experience for a job
like that it's not that hard to learn
and ask for people realizing you have no
idea what you're doing hey
you're an actor act like a processor
people will think you're a processor
other common ways to say this are as
regards and regarding
randy hey before you get to that
regarding the earlier project i was
working on
voila
[Music]
all right so to start out we'll have you
take a quick diagnostic test
just to see if this is a problem that
you might suffer from
so we'll watch a funny clip from friends
and what i want you to do is think about
what should come after interested is it
in
on or about