How to Use Vague Language Naturally in English Conversations [534]

🚨 If you use English at work, these phrases matter.  These are the only English phrases I allow my private students to use at work, and the ones I tell them to stop using.  👉 Download the PDF (€9): https://www.englishlessonviaskype.com/workphrases-podcast

In this episode, you’ll learn how native speakers use vague language when they do not know the exact word or want to speak more generally. These simple expressions are extremely common in real conversations and help you keep speaking without hesitation. I show you how to use them naturally so you can sound more fluent and confident in everyday English.

This lesson is perfect for intermediate and advanced learners who want to feel more confident in real-life situations. If you often stop or hesitate when you can’t find the right word, this video will help. Build fluency. Speak without hesitation. Understand native speakers better.

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Transcript

0:10

Hi there, this is Harry and welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language, preparing for those proficiency exams, your interview in English, or just helping you to have better conversational skills for your conversations with your friends or with your colleagues in the office. And in this particular Advanced English lesson today, we're going to take a look at must-know words and expressions, natural English, what will help you to improve your spoken and written English. So we're going to talk specifically about vague language, okay? And vague means language which is not so clear, not so certain, but it forms an important part of the English language. Let me give you a very quick example. When I say I'm almost finished, I'm not telling you exactly when I have finished or when I will finish, but I've almost finished. So almost can be used to describe vague language. It doesn't mean we don't know what we're talking about. Sometimes we might not want to give somebody the exact answer. So we're looking at language that will be described as vague language and how you can use it. So we've got 10 types of expressions and vague language. So I'll go through them with you. The first expression is an expression give or take. Now, when we use that expression give or take, we are being a little bit vague. So again, if we go back to my earlier example of somebody asking when will you be finished this work? So you've got some workmen in your house and they're doing some decorations for some painting or wallpaper. Could you give me an idea when you might be finished? I'll be finished probably in a few hours. Give or take a few minutes. Okay, so they're not going to be committed. So give or take. So when we use give or take, we are making a suggestion, an approximation. When will the dinner be ready? It'll be ready in a couple of hours. Give or take a few minutes. So again, mum or dad not being very, very specific because they know what the children will be like. Is dinner ready yet? I'm hungry. I'm starving. Is dinner ready yet? So give or take. Yeah? Okay, so I'll be ready in 20 minutes, give or take. I'll come to your party, of course. I'll be there around nine o'clock, give or take a few minutes. So you could be there a few minutes early or a few minutes late, give or take. Number two, this word stuff. Now, stuff is one of those words that can mean anything. You could have lots and lots of stuff in your room, means things that you don't really need or lots of boxes. And somebody, your friend or your mother, your father might say, isn't it about time you got rid of some of that stuff in your room? Ah, no, no, they're all my old things, my old Lego, my old books. I want to keep them. They could be worth lots of money in the future. So I want to keep my stuff. That's my stuff. Or brothers and sisters, siblings are always fighting. He touched my stuff. They're not saying specifically he touched my books. He touched my music. He touched my clothes. He touched my stuff. So it's a general word that includes everything. But it's a vague word. We're not being so specific, but it's a word that is used in the English language a lot. Have you any old stuff that you would like to get rid of? So somebody asks you, well, what did you give to the charity shop? Ah, some suits and shirts, stuff like that. Okay, so when you use that expression, stuff like that, it's incorporating or including everything. You're not being overly specific. You don't want to go on forever and tell them every item of clothing that you gave to the charity shop, but you're going to give some indication. So ah, shirts and trousers, shoes, stuff like that. So a general collect all, everything together, stuff like that. Number three, again, very similar to the second one, something like that. So if your boss is asking you to prepare a business plan and you want him to be a little bit more specific, well, what would you like me to include in the business plan? Well, you know yourself, the plans for the next year, you know, the projections, the sales forecast, something like that. Yeah, you know what to do. You can base it on the previous years and we can change it for this year and make, I'll read it. And then if there's anything else that has to be changed, I'll come back to you and you can make the changes. So something like that. Or what are you preparing for dinner? Ah, I'm not so sure, but I'll have a look in the fridge and the freezer, see what I've got. Perhaps it will be a vegetarian dish or maybe a mix of vegetarian and something else. Something like that. Yeah? Okay. But I'm sure it will be appetizing. Do you work in English? Many people learn English from textbooks, but real everyday work English is different. I have written a short guide with the phrases I use with my students for meetings and emails and including the phrases I advise them not to use. The guide is only 9 Euro. The link is in the description. Now, in the next one, we've got this suffix ISH-ish. And we use that a lot in this vague language. So lots of words you can add on the ISH. For example, what color was it? Blackish. Yeah, not exactly black, but black-ish. So we're not certain, but blackish. Can you remember what it looked like? Yeah, it was blackish, but I'm not quite sure. So you go into a shop and you can't see the particular coat that you saw the previous week and you're trying to explain to the sales assistant which one it was. And they ask you, well, can you describe it? Yeah, it was sort of blackish, yeah? Okay. Or if somebody wants to describe the person they met, can you give me the size of the person or the age? Well, I think he was 40-ish. It's very hard to be specific, but 40-ish means he could be 41, 42, 43. He was 40-ish. What's the weather like? It's not raining heavily, but it has been raining, so it's damp-ish. So you need to have a coat or a jacket because it feels a little bit chilly. So it's not really raining at the moment, but it is dampish. So it doesn't feel so comfortable. So you're looking at a new apartment. It's in the center of the town, the old town. And when you walk around the apartment, it feels cold. And when you're describing it to your friend, I'm not so sure. I'm really interested. It was dampish. I couldn't say for certain. It didn't look. I couldn't see anything on the walls, any signs of damp, but to me, it was dampish. So blackish, faulty-ish, damp-ish. So that suffix I-S-H added on to the end of the word will help you to use that vague language that I've been discussing, the vague language to talk about. Now, when we talk about colours, we use this ish a lot. As I said before, blackish or bluish, reddish, greenish, any of those you can add on I-S-H. And with some colours, you can also add the letter Y for it was yellowy or greeny. Okay, in some dictionaries, you get a description of it was a bluey tie. I don't usually use bluey. I more prefer to, much more prefer to use bluish rather than bluey, but it does, they do use it in other books and in dictionaries. So you have the choice with some to use blackish or reddish, brownish, greeny, yellowy. Okay, now we don't say blacky or whitey, but we do say yellowy or greeny or whitish or bluish, yeah, okay, or blackish. So you just pick and choose which colours you're going to use and be very careful. Some very easily use ish and others will more easily use the why, like yellowy or greeny or bluey, okay? Number five, he looks sort of or kind of. So again, if we're giving a description of somebody, we're not so sure because perhaps we didn't get a very good look at him. So he looks kind of old, sort of heavy, kind of old-fashioned, the way he was walking or the way he was dressed. So again, we're being a little bit vague with our description. If you're trying to describe a price, so let's say you're looking to buy a home and you're trying to describe to a property agent what you're looking for. He might ask you, well, what's your price region? What is your high or your low levels where you'd be comfortable to buy? So you might be, oh, somewhere in the region of. So if you don't want to go below a certain level and you certainly don't want to go above it, you might ask somewhere in the region of 200,000 or somewhere in the region of 220,000. So you're not being absolutely precise, but you're giving a rough indication to the property agent so that he'll be able to perhaps search and look out for and identify property that you might be interested in. Okay. Or if you're asking about salaries and your son is looking for a new job or your daughter looking for a new job and you're asking them, well, what sort of salary do you want? Ah, somewhere in the region of 25 or 30,000 Euro to start off with. And hopefully over time, I'll be able to get some increases and some promotions somewhere in the region of. Or indeed, how many people were at the concert? Well, there might have been 10,000 or 15,000, somewhere in the region of 20,000 people were at the concert, or somewhere in the region of 200,000 people were on the streets demonstrating against the government's recent plan. So we're not being exact, we're using approximations, so we can use this vague language. Again, if somebody's trying to explain to you a particular view or a particular point, then they can use an expression like something along those lines. Okay, so you're making a presentation perhaps to the staff and your boss wants you to include details of the new budget, details of the new targets, details of the new company that you're going to acquire. So you're asking him, well, what specifically do you want me to say? And he said, well, you can use your own words, but something along those lines. Tell them about our plans. Tell them about what this acquisition will mean. Tell them how long it will take. So something along those lines, but use your own words. Be comfortable with it. So he's given you plenty of opportunity, plenty of scope, and you have the chance to use your own words, but he wants you to incorporate some specific information. So something along those lines. That would be perfect. Now, we all have this situation when we forget somebody's name and we can see the person, we can picture them, we can see the outline of them, but for some strange reason, we've just forgotten their name. So we have to be quite vague. Say, ah, you know, the person who works in administration on the fourth floor, you know, she's really, really helpful. She's always there if you have a problem. What's her name? So we use that expression, what's her name? Or what's his name? So we can't be absolutely certain. It's a David, it's a Declan. I know it begins with a D. What's his name? Yeah? Okay. Or Mary Margaret. You know, you know, what's her name? You'll know her when you see it. It's just always really, really helpful. So we use that expression. What's her name? What's his name? Because we just, we've forgotten for a minute or two and we can picture them, but we don't have the name on the tip of our tongues. So if you're changing your apartment or you're having a redecoration or you want just to have a, as we often say, spring clean, somebody might ask you, well, what are you doing? I'm getting rid of a few bits and pieces. Now, that could mean everything in your apartment or everything in your room or just some pieces of furniture. But we use this catch-all expression, ah, just some bits and pieces. Yeah. Did you go down to the charity shop or did you go to the car bootstrap? I did. It was really interesting. I'd never been to one before, but I got a few things, just a few bits and pieces. So you don't want to be specific. You don't want to go through item by item. Maybe you want to keep it a little bit private. So you just use this expression, ah, just some bits and pieces. What are you going to donate to the charity shop? Ah, just some bits and pieces, things that I no longer need. Things I found in the attic, things I found in the basement, things I found buried in the back of my wardrobe that I never used. Just some bits and pieces. I might as well give them away because I like to declutter every now and again. And then finally, this word thing or thingy. Again, when we're trying to get something to open a bottle of wine or to fix the shelf onto the wall or to hold up the lamp or, you know, and you can't think of the exact words. So you say, could you pass me that thingy we use for opening the wine? You mean the bottle opener? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the thing. Or can you pass me that thingy we use to make straight lines on the wall? Ah, yes, you mean the plumb line? Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Or, you know, the thingy for measuring the length of the shelf. Or you mean that the tape measure? Yeah, yeah, that thing. So when we can't think of the exact thing that we want, then we use the word thingy. And it's not that we don't know the word, we've just momentarily forgotten it. So we use the word thingy. Ah, yeah, that thingy. So we use the word thingy all of the time. Okay, so these are 10 particular expressions, phrases, or words that we would consider to be vague language. It's not that there isn't a word for them. It's just good at times to use them because it's natural English and we use it all the time. So let me give them to you once more. Number one, give or take. When we're not being exact about the time that we're going to finish or the exact time that something's going to be ready, give or take a few minutes, give or take. Or stuff like that. We want to be more general. Ah, yeah, I'm just going to throw away some clothes, you know, stuff like that, like those trousers that I no longer wear, the suits or the jumpers, you know, all those old Christmas presents I got and I never wore them. So stuff like that. Or something like that. Again, stuff like that or something like that. And then we've got this suffix I-S-H, blackish in colour, bluish in colour. He was 40-ish. She was 30-ish. The weather, ah, it's dampish. And again, you can, with colours, you can also use yellowy, greeny, or bluey, but not whity or blacky. So blackish, yeah, but yellowy, reddish, brownish, bluey, okay. And then if we want to be just to be vague when we're describing something, he's kind of or looks sort of like, yeah, so we're a little bit uncertain about the specifics, but we can broadly describe the person. Kind of short, sort of heavy, okay? Or when we're talking about price of things, somewhere in the region of, somewhere in the region of. Or describing what we might use in a document or the words we might use in a presentation. Something along those lines would be perfect. Something along those lines was just what we're looking for. We can't remember a person's name. Ah, you know, what's her name? What's his name? I'm redecorating. I'm going to get rid of some things in my house, some bits and pieces, bits and pieces. And then finally, yeah, that thingy, the thingy we use to open the bottle. Yeah, the thingy. Okay, so all vague language that you can practice. Now, these, you're going to have to be very, very careful how you use them. Try to understand them first of all. Try to put them into written sentences to see that you can understand them. Match them against the examples that I've given. And then try to use one or two of them in your conversations. And as always, come back to me if you have any problems and be very happy to help you. And for those of you and your friends or family who want one-to-one lessons, well, you know what to do. Just get in touch, www.englishlessonviaskype.com and you can apply for a free try lesson and we'll be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. Okay, this is Harry. Thanking you for watching and listening. And remember, join me for the next lesson.