here we go again with the ten most
useful English phrases ever hey guys if
you have a moment before my name is Tom
and I teach fresh modern British English
so that you can take your English to the
next level and achieve your life goals
whatever they are today we're looking at
the 10 most useful English phrases of
all time so here we go number one this
is possibly my favourite of all imagine
somebody has invited you to do something
and you don't want to do it let's say
they want you to come to their party and
hey Tom would you like to come to my
party tomorrow and you don't want to do
it what do you say to be polite you say
this phrase I'd love to but and then
some excuse
I'd love to but and then the excuse so
for example I'd love to but I've got
plans or I'd love to but I'm busy
tomorrow amazing to them this sounds
like you want to do it but you can't to
you this is the best way to reject an
invitation it's polite and it's
effective that either there is I would
so the whole thing would be I would love
to but we can track the I and there
would to make I'd I'd love to but number
two is by the way now we use by the way
usually to introduce a new topic maybe
that's not so important but I have found
that commonly certainly in Britain we
use by the way to introduce a topic that
maybe has been annoying us or that we
wanted to mention but didn't have the
courage to talk about it so for example
okay let's say you've borrowed ten
pounds from me and you haven't paid me
back how do I get you to pay me back
well I would say oh hey how you doing
you're good okay
by the way um do you that tenner that
you that you borrowed from me alright so
I'm using by the way to introduce this
slightly difficult topic all this diff
conversation it's what I'd be wanting to
talk about and maybe we have a
conversation about all kinds of things
beforehand and then I'll say off by the
way you know do you have that 10 pounds
that you that you borrowed from me and
I'm using by the way to introduce this
topic and to make it sound like it's not
a big deal that it's not the only thing
I've been thinking about very useful
when someone's borrowed money from you
or they've done something that you
wanted to talk about mmm by the way this
one is brilliant don't get me wrong now
essentially what this means is that you
don't want someone to misunderstand what
you're saying let me put that into an
example sentence so for example don't
get me wrong I love London but it's
really expensive okay so my main point
is that London is very expensive but I
don't want you to think that it I hate
London because I love London so I'm
going to say don't get me wrong I love
London like don't misunderstand me and
then I say my point but London's really
expensive so it's almost like saying I'm
gonna say something negative so to
balance that out I'm gonna say something
positive don't get me wrong I love
London but it can be expensive so don't
get me wrong if you don't want someone
to misunderstand you use that phrase
this one's great if you want to ask
someone why you can just say how come I
did have a very good day today and you
can ask how come and that's like why
like tell me more how come means why
amazing number five is brilliant
long story short that isn't itself short
for to cut a long story short so long
story short if you have a story and you
don't want to tell all the details
maybe there's information that's
unnecessary for the listener you can use
the phrase long story short so for
example someone asks you oh how was your
weekend so it was pretty eventful
actually I went hiking on Saturday with
my brother and yeah we started walking
and you were walking all day and then
long story short we ended up in
spittle so there you started the story
and you've got to the end and you didn't
need all the in-between details maybe
you'll say the details in a bit later
but you've got to the main point of the
story which was that you ended up in
hospital that's the most interesting
part is the fact that you went hiking
and then you went to hospital and then
you'll say why you ended up in hospital
but you've cut you've had a story that's
very long and you've cut it down the
main reason of course is so that the
listener doesn't get bored that you give
them the most interesting information
without their losing interest to cut a
long story short or long story short a
phrase that I commonly hear people use
to emphasize certain things is the thing
that the thing that now this is followed
by a verb phrase so the thing that
annoys me about London is the weather so
the verb phrase there really annoys me
about London so the thing that really
annoys me about London is so the verb to
be is and then whatever the weather in
this case because certainly with the
weather in London you never know what
you're going to get it could be raining
one minute and then sunny the next it's
confusing it's confusing guys another
example the thing that I love about
football is the passion so your verb
phrase there is love about football the
thing that I love about football if you
want to give someone some advice you
could use the phrase if I were you if I
were you so your friend has broken up
with their their partner and you want to
give them some advice you could say I if
I were you I'd call him so this is a way
of saying your advice helping them to
make the right decision well let's say
your friend doesn't like their job you
could say well if I were you I'd start
looking for a new job so if I were you
I'd start looking for a new job alright
this phrase is a little bit
grammatically strange it doesn't look
quite right but we use it and it's
really useful so when you see someone
that you haven't seen for a long time
you can say long time no see long time
no see
what
phrase as I said grammatically a little
bit strange but very useful so you go to
a school reunion and you see somebody
that you haven't seen for many years you
could say oh great to see you long time
no see it means I haven't seen you for a
long time I hope I don't have to say
that to you guys at any point a long
time no see
alright this one is a very British
phrase that is equally loved and hated
so we should learn it so that we'll
understand it when we hear it I'm not
being funny but I'm not being funny but
hmm now we use this to introduce an
opinion now the opinion is usually a
little bit controversial maybe we think
that somebody might not agree with us or
maybe it's a criticism or a complaint or
it might be a little bit harsh or mean
and we use this phrase to introduce our
opinion maybe to soften it slightly or
just give the listener some warning that
is about to come for example I'm not
being funny but I don't think this taxi
driver knows where he's going so I'm not
being funny but I don't think this taxi
driver knows where he's going all right
so there's my little bit of criticism
and I'm pressing it I'm using I'm not
being funny but to introduce this
concept as I said this phrase is loved
and hated in equal measure whether you
use it or not it's up to you but it's
good to understand and to know our final
phrase is to be honest to be honest
you'll notice the transition there too
to be honest so we used to be honest to
introduce our opinion that is honest
it's very frank will particularly use it
if we think the person who were talking
to might not want to hear what we're
about to say so for example maybe our
friend wants to go to a party and we
don't want to we could say to be honest
I don't really want to go to the party
we know that this might not be what they
want to hear but we're being honest
we're saying exactly what we think so
to be honest and there whatever is Wow
that was all ten that went really
quickly okay guys I want to let me know
in the comments below which phrase do
you love the most which one are you
excited to use in your English let me
know in the comments below also if you
can think of any other useful phrases
that you want to teach other AC dreamers
also put that in the comments below just
in case you missed it guys I did a great
video with 10 fantastic English teachers
on YouTube I asked them to give their
best tip to help you learn English they
did it's a great video if you haven't
watched it I linked it just above right
there go check it out I'm sure you'll
find it super useful remember I've got
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Friday helping you take your English to
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alright guys thank you so much for
hanging out with me today
this is told the chief dreamer saying
goodbye