Learn to speculate in English
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
| Do you know how to speculate about something in English? |
| You'll learn how in just a moment. |
| Hi, my name is Alisha, and in this lesson, you'll learn how to speculate about something through a quick conversation. |
| Let's look at the dialogue. |
| So you grew up around here? |
| Yeah, I'm a real New Yorker. |
| You should know this town better than anyone, then. |
| Well, I wouldn't say that. |
| Come on, then. What's your recommendation? |
| My friends and I usually just go to Green Burger. |
| Let's go over the dialogue again, more slowly this time. |
| [Slowly] So you grew up around here? |
| [Slowly] Yeah, I'm a real New Yorker. |
| [Slowly] You should know this town better than anyone, then. |
| [Slowly] Well, I wouldn't say that. |
| [Slowly] Come on, then. What's your recommendation? |
| [Slowly] My friends and I usually just go to Green Burger. |
| Let's focus on the key part of the conversation. |
| This character |
| is asking this character |
| if she's from New York City. When she says yes, he says, |
| You should know this town better than anyone, then. |
| Because he doesn't know for sure if she knows the town well, he says "should." It’s a kind of guess that he expects to be true. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn how to make statements like this. |
| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. |
| [SUBJECT] should [BARE INFINITIVE]. |
| Let’s see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. |
| You should know better than anyone. |
| This pattern is used when using personal expectations to speculate about something. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| The character is speaking with someone about what they think the weather will be like. |
| The temperature should be cold. |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Now imagine they're talking about their order at a restaurant. |
| I don't think dinner should be too late. |
| [Slowly] I don't think dinner should be too late. |
| Let's try one more, |
| The pizza should be tasty. |
| [Slowly] The pizza should be tasty. |
| Another one. |
| The test should be easy. |
| [Slowly] The test should be easy. |
| One last example. |
| I don't think that the coffee should be too expensive. |
| [Slowly] I don't think that the coffee should be too expensive. |
| Let's review. |
| Do you remember how to order these words to make the sentence pattern we learned? |
| You |
| You should |
| You should know |
| You should know better |
| You should know better than |
| You should know better than I. |
| You should know better than I. |
| Great. Let's do one more sentence. |
| I |
| I don't think |
| I don't think lunch |
| I don't think lunch should |
| I don't think lunch should take |
| I don't think lunch should take too long. |
| I don't think lunch should take too long. |
| In this lesson, you've learned how to speculate about someone or something in English. Thanks for watching and see you in the next lesson! |
Comments
Hide