Speak Better English with Harry | Episode 549

In this episode, you will learn how native English speakers talk when they are not exact. This is common in everyday conversation when people speak about numbers, amounts, or descriptions. Instead of giving a precise answer, they use simple words to give only a general idea. You will often hear this in daily life, on TV, in films, and in conversations between friends.

Many English learners find this difficult to understand because it is not usually taught in textbooks or traditional classes. By learning these expressions, you will understand real spoken English more easily. You will also be able to use them yourself to make your English sound more natural, confident, and fluent in real situations.

Transcript

0:09

Hi there, this is Harry. Welcome back to Advanced English Lessons with Harry, where I try to help you to get a better understanding of the English language, to help you with your conversational skills, your business English skills, interview skills, whatever your goals are, we're here to help. 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 trial lesson and we'd be very happy to hear from you and very happy to help you. So what are we going to do with you today? Well in this particular lesson we're going to talk about vague language. Okay, vague is what means unclear, unclear language. And when we talk it's always good to be very very precise and very specific and in that way people will understand exactly what you mean. But there are times when we speak English that we can use vague language and it's quite acceptable. So I'm going to go through this type of language, what it is, what it means and then how to use it. So don't feel that all of the time you have to be exactly precise. You don't have to be. And there are words and expressions that we use that are very definitely vague, but they're there for a purpose. Okay, so let's go through them. So first of all, we've got vague nouns. Thing. Okay, so she's got something in her eye. You don't know what it is because you can't see it, but you know because she's rubbing her eye that she's got something in her eye. So it's quite okay to use vague language in that situation. You could say she's got a hair in her eye if you knew that it was a hair and therefore you're being absolutely precise. But if you don't, then you just say, oh, there's something in her eye. Will you help her to take it out? So other vague nouns that we can use. Stuff. Stuff is a really good vague word. Will you go into your room and tidy all that stuff on the floor? Oh, every parent has used that when they try to get their children to tidy their room. Oh, we'll have to go up into the attic someday and get rid of all that stuff in the boxes. I mean, it's been there for years. In fact, there's so much stuff there, I don't even know half of it. Okay, so we need to go through it and see what we need to keep. And others, we might take it to a car boot sale or just throw it out. Yeah, so stuff, the stuff in the attic. And then bit. Okay, so we use bit when it's again something that's not quite well defined. Okay, so there the vague nouns. So we can say thing, stuff, bit, thing, stuff, bit. Next, we have quantifiers, and quantifies is about how many, okay? So the type of quantifiers that we can use when we're talking about vague language would be something like one or two. Okay, how many people did you invite for the dinner tonight? Ah, one or two. So you're not quite sure, or you don't want to be so sure. One or two. How many hits did we get on the latest video? One or two. Oh, that's not so many. Okay, so one or two. So we're being a little bit vague. Well, you could equally say three or four or five or six. Yeah. Okay. Or you could say a few. So if you don't want to be or you don't know the specific answer, ah, we got a few. How many replies you get? Ah, you got a few. The ad you put up on eBay to sell all those books. How many responses you get? Ah, we got a few. Or a couple. Or if you want to go the other end of the scale, you can say, oh, a lot of, okay, or plenty of, or loads of. So at one end of the scale, it could be one or two, three or four, a few. And at the other end of the scale, it could be, oh, plenty of, or lots of, or loads of. Okay, so these are the quantifiers that we will use. There's a bit of flour left in the bag, but I don't think there'll be enough to make the pizza. So I think if you want pizzas this weekend, somebody's going to have to take a trip to the supermarket. There's a bit of flour. So you're not quantifying how much. You're not saying there are 100 grams or there's 250 gram, whatever it might be. You're not saying that. So just there's a bit of flour. But usually it means a bit, but not enough to do what you want to do. So quantifiers. Then we can use, have vague numbers, okay? So we use expressions like around. So for example, what ages do you think he is? Ah, he's around 50. So you're trying to guess the age of the new boss and nobody's quite sure because he came from the outside and he hasn't worked in this business before. So I think he's around 50. So or around about 50. We're trying to guess or to get the approximate age. Or more or less. Yeah, he's more or less 50 or there or thereabouts. Again, vague language. There or thereabouts, more or less. Again, you're not quite certain, but you would like to try and pinpoint it, but it's not so easy. 50 or so. Okay, so how many people are going to the party? How many people will be invited to the wedding? 50 or so. So it could be 51 or it could be 52. Okay, so anything that's in or around 50 will be 50 or so. Now, if we're trying to guess somebody's age, we often add to the end of the word I-SH-ish. I-S-H-ish. So how old do you think he is? I'd say 40-ish. How old do you think she is? I would say 30-ish, something around that. So when we're not sure, we can use I-S-H. And we don't always and only have to use it when we're talking about numbers. We can say, what color is that dress? It's strange. It's reddish, I think. Yeah, reddish. Or what's that? Oh, greenish or bluish. So we add that ISH at the end of certain words to almost say approximately. We're not quite sure of the exact colour. So the nearest color I can think of is green. So it's greenish. Yeah. Is that the colour of the new car? That sounds like the colour of puke. Yeah, greenish. You know, greenish, reddish, bluish, 40-ish, 30-ish. Okay, so you can use it as an approximation. Okay, so what's the weather like? Oh, it's a bit coldish. It's coldish. Yeah, so it's not warm, but I think you probably need a jacket. So you can use that ISH in many, many different ways. And we add it onto those words when we're trying to be as precise as we can be, but it comes across because it actually is that vague language. And then we have these expressions of vague language that we call generalizes. So these examples would be sort of, kind of, you know. So we're trying to be as precise as we can, but we don't have the exact words to describe it. Are you happy? Sort of. How's the new job? It's okay. And I'm not sure. Sort of. You know, I'll need a few weeks to work out whether I really like it or not. Do you like Mary's new boyfriend? Kind of. He seems to be okay, but he's got a funny sense of humour, so I'm not quite sure. So kind of, not 100%. Are you thinking of changing your job? You know yourself. After a couple of years, you get a little bit bored. You know what I mean. So we often use that vague language. You know what I mean, when really we don't want to explain it in any more detail. So we can say things like, he's sort of creative, he's sort of musical, he's sort of sporty. So we're not being precise because we perhaps don't know, but we're giving some sort of information. So those are those generalizers. And then finally, we have what we call these completers, these things that we finish off. So when we're talking to somebody and we don't want to give them all of the details, we would use these words to complete the phrase like, and so on, or and stuff, or something like that. So if somebody asks you, well, how was the holiday? Well, you know yourself, it was lots of fun, lots of sand, few beers, lots of trips and so on. So you don't want to go into too much detail. Or if somebody's asking you, tell me how you got on the business trip. Ah, well, you know yourself, you've been on them, you know what happens. There's dinners, there's presentations and so on and stuff like that. So it's just the usual, nothing out of the ordinary at all. So, I mean, everything that happened in previous trips happened on this one. There's not much interest. There's nothing really to tell you about. So, and stuff and so on or something like that. So, what did the boss tell you? Well, you know, I stopped listening after about 10 minutes. You know how he goes on, but he was just going on about the business. And then he was telling me about the problems they're having. And then your friend might ask you, well, did he talk about the salaries? Ah, something like that. He mentioned it once or twice, but nothing specific. So we can use those completers. Something like that. And so on and stuff. So she's a really fine-looking girl. She's got a wonderful figure. She could be a model or something like that. Okay, so you're not being absolutely precise, but you can use those sort of words to describe it. So we're talking about vague language. And as I said, vague language doesn't necessarily mean you don't know the English that you want to use. It doesn't mean you're using words because you don't actually know the word that you want, but they're vague words and expressions that we can use in certain key specific situations when we don't want to give somebody some additional information. So just to go back over it again, just to make sure you understand it. And if you don't understand it, please come back to me and I can explain it. But hopefully you've understood my explanation. So we've got the vague nouns like thing and stuff and the example I gave you, the something in her eye. Or we've got the quantifiers, one or two or three or four. And at the other end of the scale, a lot of or plenty of. Yeah. Okay. So, and then we've got vague numbers, around, about 50. And then this particular ISH, which is the 40-ish, 30-ish, when we're not quite sure, but we're trying to be as specific and precise as we can. What time will you be home? 8-ish. I'll be home 8-ish after work. And then we've got these particular generalizers when we say sort of or kind of or you know, you know yourself. Are you happy? Ah, sort of. And then these finally, these completers where we use and stuff and so on or something like that. She could be a model or something like that. Or he was talking about salaries or promotions, something like that. I forget. Okay, so this is all about vague language. You know the drill, try to practice it, try to understand it, try to use it. If you don't understand it, come back to me. I'll give you some further explanations or point you in the right direction. So as always, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching and join me again soon.