Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, we are going to talk about
opinions. I'm going to teach you how to ask for someone's opinion, how to
acknowledge someone's opinion, and how to give your own opinion. So, these are
all really important skills, especially in today's society. So, let's get
So, how do you ask for someone's opinion? Imagine this: There is an
election. You need to decide who is going to be the leader of your country.
You don't know a lot, so you want to ask your friends what they think about
different leaders. So, what might you ask them? Well, you could ask them:
"What do you think about _______?" You might ask somebody: "What do you think
about our current president?" Or if you're talking about something else,
maybe: "What do you think about healthcare?", "What do you think about
education?", "What do you think about celebrities?" So, this can be anything
Now, what I want you to really focus on is just some of these words I've
underlined. Many English-language learners forget this word: "do". So, we
say: "What do you think about _______?" Notice I also underlined the word
"about". This goes with the word "think". Okay? So, you need to remember
this preposition. "What do you think about _______?" And that just means:
"What's your opinion on this topic?"
Let's look at some other expressions that mean the same thing. Now, we have
the word "how": "How do you feel about _______?" This has the same meaning as:
"What do you think about _______?" It's just a different way to say it. So, we
can say: "How do you feel about your country?", "How do you feel about the
environment?", "How do you feel about children today?" So, these are different
ways to ask someone for their opinion. And, again, notice I've underlined the
word "do". Please don't forget the word "do" when you're asking those questions.
"How do you feel" and, again, just like above, we have "about" as the
Let's look at another way to ask for somebody's opinion. We can also say:
"What is your opinion on education?", "What is your opinion on learning
English?", "What is your opinion on Mickey Mouse?" Okay? You can ask people
their opinion on anything. Notice, though, the preposition we're using
here. After the word "opinion", we have this little word "on", and then you can
say the topic. So: "What is your opinion on the TV show, Friends?" for example.
Okay.
Another thing we can ask is we can ask people for their opinions on a specific
person. Sometimes maybe we're talking about a celebrity, or maybe we're
talking about somebody famous — we can ask our friends or people we know their
opinions about that person. We can say: "What is your opinion of Madonna?" So,
notice number three and number four are a little bit different. Here, we have
the word "on", and here, we have the word "of". We use "of" when we're asking
someone's opinion of a person, whereas we use "on" for a topic. "What is your
opinion of him?", "What is your opinion of the President?" for example.
Okay, let's look at another way to ask for opinions; and again, there's so many
ways. We can also say: "What are your thoughts _______?" This means the same
thing as: "What do you think _______?" "What are your thoughts on alcohol?",
"What are your thoughts on drugs?", "What are your thoughts on smoking?"
Again, we have our preposition; I've underlined it. Notice it's: "What are
your thoughts on" and then you can give the topic you're interested in. So,
these are five different ways to ask someone for someone's opinion. Now let's
look at what you can say to someone when they give you their opinion.
Okay, so you have asked someone for their opinion on something. Now, what do
you say after they give you their opinion? Well, it's good to acknowledge
what someone says. So, here are some ways to do that. You can say: "I hear
what you're saying." This means that you're acknowledging that you have heard
their opinion. "I hear what you're saying." You might even say it in this
slang way. Sometimes in conversation, we just say: "Oh, I hear you." or "I hear
ya." Okay? Both are possible. "I hear what you're saying.", "I hear you.", "I
hear ya." They're ways to acknowledge somebody's opinion.
We can also say: "I see where you're coming from." This means: "I understand
your opinion." It doesn't mean I agree with your opinion, but it means I
understand your opinion. "I see where you're coming from." Or, I can also say:
"Oh, I see your point." Again, this doesn't mean: "I agree with your point",
but it means that I understand what you are saying. So, it's an acknowledgement.
So, these are great to say when someone gives you their opinion.
After this, you can then give your opinion. You can say: "I see your point,
and I agree" if you agree with what they said. You might say: "I see your point,
and I partially agree". "Partially" means you agree with some of what they
said, but not everything. Or maybe the person said something and you do not
agree at all. What can you say? Well, you can say: "I see your point, but I
disagree.", "I see where you're coming from, but I disagree." Or: "I hear what
you're saying, but I disagree." Maybe you really disagree. In that case, you
can say: "I strongly disagree." or "I really disagree with you." We can add
those words — "strongly" or "really" — to make our disagreement even stronger.
Okay.
What are some ways we can give our opinion? So, we've talked about how to
ask for someone's opinion and we've talked about how to acknowledge
someone's opinion, and to say whether or not we agree or not. We can also give
our opinion. There are many different ways to do this. Sometimes we say: "To
be honest". When you hear someone say: "To be honest", it's a signal. It means
they're going to give you an opinion. "To be honest, I like cats more than I
like dogs." That's not true. "To be honest, I like dogs more than I like
cats.", "To be honest, I really like our healthcare system." Okay? So, "to be
honest" is a way to show you're going to give your opinion. You can also say: "In
my opinion". "In my opinion, dogs are better than cats.", "In my opinion,
coffee is better than tea." Okay. So, these are just some ways to give our
opinion. And again, there are many different ways. It's always good to have
at least two or three ways that you can give your opinion, and to practice
those. So that way, when someone asks you for your opinion, you're ready to
go.
So, thank you for watching this video. It would be great practice if you
actually, in the comments, ask for our opinion on something. You can ask each
other. You can use some of the vocabulary you learned in today's
lesson, and write a question in the comments. "What is your opinion on
English?" for example, or: "What do you think about learning English?" You can
use some of these opinion words as well, like: "To be honest, I love learning
English. English grammar is the best thing ever." Okay? Or maybe you might
say: "I disagree with Emma. I do not like English grammar." So, please write
in the comments and practice some of what you've learned here.
You can also take our quiz at www.engvid.com There, you can practice a
lot of the different vocabulary. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel; I
have new material coming out all the time. So, come check it out. I have
different videos on many different topics. Just don't forget to ring the
bell, because when you ring the bell, you will get an alert that a new video
has come out. You can also check my website at www.teacheremma.com.com.
There, you can find some other activities to do and other resources to
practice your English. So, thank you for watching; and until next time, take
care.