WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.166 --> 00:00:03.770 So here's the beginning of a pretty typical English conversation. 2 00:00:04.037 --> 00:00:05.405 Hi. Hi. 3 00:00:05.405 --> 00:00:06.706 How are you? Pretty good. 4 00:00:06.706 --> 00:00:08.441 How are you? Pretty good. 5 00:00:08.441 --> 00:00:11.678 And then sometimes you just don't know what to say next. 6 00:00:11.978 --> 00:00:15.548 As an English learner, it's important to be ready for this moment 7 00:00:15.782 --> 00:00:18.251 so that the conversation doesn't just die. 8 00:00:18.585 --> 00:00:21.254 In this English lesson, I'll teach you ten different ways 9 00:00:21.254 --> 00:00:23.356 you can continue the conversation. 10 00:00:23.623 --> 00:00:28.228 Ten different ways you can go from that point where the conversation kind of stalls 11 00:00:28.495 --> 00:00:32.732 to having a great English conversation. 12 00:00:37.070 --> 00:00:39.706 The first way to keep an English conversation going 13 00:00:39.706 --> 00:00:43.443 is to use two simple words, and it's to ask the question, Guess what? 14 00:00:43.943 --> 00:00:48.181 This is a phrase we often use when we're going to share news about our lives. 15 00:00:48.515 --> 00:00:50.183 Maybe you just got a new job. 16 00:00:50.183 --> 00:00:51.851 You could say to someone, Guess what? 17 00:00:51.851 --> 00:00:53.219 I got a new job. 18 00:00:53.219 --> 00:00:54.921 You can pause if you want. 19 00:00:54.921 --> 00:00:56.189 You can say, Guess what? 20 00:00:56.189 --> 00:00:58.591 And wait for them to say What?, But you don't have to. 21 00:00:58.792 --> 00:01:01.061 If you're really excited, you can just say, Guess what? 22 00:01:01.061 --> 00:01:02.495 I got a new job. 23 00:01:02.495 --> 00:01:05.665 Maybe you took an English test and you got 100% on it. 24 00:01:05.665 --> 00:01:07.033 You got a perfect score. 25 00:01:07.033 --> 00:01:08.468 You could say to your friend, Guess what? 26 00:01:08.468 --> 00:01:11.137 I passed my English test. I got 100%. 27 00:01:11.604 --> 00:01:16.276 A second way to keep a conversation going is to start a sentence with this phrase. 28 00:01:16.575 --> 00:01:18.710 You're not going to believe this, but... 29 00:01:18.711 --> 00:01:22.315 And then share some new, exciting news about you or someone else. 30 00:01:22.749 --> 00:01:24.918 Maybe your cousin has won the lottery. 31 00:01:25.118 --> 00:01:27.987 You can say to the person you're having the conversation with, 32 00:01:28.188 --> 00:01:30.790 you're not going to believe this, but Joe won the lottery. 33 00:01:30.824 --> 00:01:32.691 He won $1,000,000. 34 00:01:32.691 --> 00:01:36.929 So if you have something exciting to tell someone about yourself or about someone else, 35 00:01:37.163 --> 00:01:39.799 you can always start with the phrase, You're not going to believe this, but... 36 00:01:40.033 --> 00:01:42.502 and then tell them something really, really cool. 37 00:01:42.502 --> 00:01:45.772 The third way you can keep a conversation going is by asking 38 00:01:45.772 --> 00:01:48.575 a question that starts with, Can you believe that..? 39 00:01:48.842 --> 00:01:50.543 And then finishing the question. 40 00:01:50.543 --> 00:01:52.846 Maybe there was just an election in your country, 41 00:01:53.012 --> 00:01:56.816 you could say to a friend, Can you believe that Justin Trudeau won the election? 42 00:01:57.016 --> 00:01:58.985 I thought he was going to lose. 43 00:01:58.985 --> 00:02:03.056 So maybe something has happened in the world and you find it hard to believe. 44 00:02:03.356 --> 00:02:08.061 You can ask a question to the person who you're having the conversation with, starting with. 45 00:02:08.061 --> 00:02:09.429 Can you believe that..? 46 00:02:09.429 --> 00:02:11.364 And then finish the question. 47 00:02:11.364 --> 00:02:13.700 A fourth way to keep a conversation going 48 00:02:13.900 --> 00:02:17.270 is to ask a question that starts with, How about those..? 49 00:02:17.504 --> 00:02:19.538 And then you usually mention a sports team. 50 00:02:19.538 --> 00:02:23.242 In fact, this question is almost always used when talking about sports. 51 00:02:23.643 --> 00:02:25.377 Jen loves watching the Raptors. 52 00:02:25.377 --> 00:02:27.546 I could say to her, How about those Raptors? 53 00:02:27.547 --> 00:02:31.117 And then she will talk about the game that she just saw the night before. 54 00:02:31.383 --> 00:02:34.887 So again, it's almost always used when talking about a sports team. 55 00:02:35.088 --> 00:02:36.422 How about those Maple Leafs? 56 00:02:36.422 --> 00:02:38.024 How about those New York Yankees? 57 00:02:38.024 --> 00:02:39.392 How about those Raptors? 58 00:02:39.392 --> 00:02:42.695 And then the person who, you know likes that team 59 00:02:42.695 --> 00:02:45.698 will then talk about that team maybe for a little bit too long. 60 00:02:46.332 --> 00:02:51.304 The fifth way to keep that conversation going is to start a question with, Did you hear..? 61 00:02:51.604 --> 00:02:54.374 And you can either finish this question by talking about 62 00:02:54.374 --> 00:02:57.610 something that you heard in the news, or you can finish it 63 00:02:57.610 --> 00:03:01.080 by talking about something that you heard from a family member or a friend. 64 00:03:01.381 --> 00:03:04.017 You can say, Did you hear that Julie is getting married? 65 00:03:04.284 --> 00:03:06.452 And maybe the other person did hear about it. 66 00:03:06.452 --> 00:03:07.387 Maybe they didn't. 67 00:03:07.387 --> 00:03:11.357 But it will certainly have a good effect on your conversation. 68 00:03:11.591 --> 00:03:14.427 So another way to just keep that conversation going, 69 00:03:14.694 --> 00:03:17.197 ask a question that starts with, Did you hear..? 70 00:03:17.564 --> 00:03:20.900 And again, you can ask about something that's happened in the world as well. 71 00:03:20.934 --> 00:03:24.671 You could say, did you hear about the bank that failed in California? 72 00:03:24.971 --> 00:03:26.239 That was big news last week. 73 00:03:26.239 --> 00:03:29.008 I don't know if that's still big news today, but did you hear about it? 74 00:03:29.508 --> 00:03:33.779 The sixth way to keep the conversation going is to simply make a statement. 75 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:37.083 When I do this, sometimes I like to do it in the negative. 76 00:03:37.116 --> 00:03:39.319 I like to start by saying I didn't think... 77 00:03:39.586 --> 00:03:41.221 and then finish the sentence. 78 00:03:41.221 --> 00:03:43.056 Sometimes I'll say something like this. 79 00:03:43.056 --> 00:03:44.857 I didn't think it would be sunny today. 80 00:03:44.857 --> 00:03:46.926 I didn't think it would rain today. 81 00:03:46.926 --> 00:03:51.931 It's a way to just mention something to prompt the other person to start talking about it. 82 00:03:52.232 --> 00:03:54.300 It doesn't have to just be about the weather. 83 00:03:54.300 --> 00:03:56.369 That's certainly a good place to start. 84 00:03:56.369 --> 00:03:58.503 Right now, it's getting a little bit sunny out here. 85 00:03:58.504 --> 00:04:02.542 I didn't think it was going to be sunny today, so I didn't bring my sunglasses with me. 86 00:04:02.842 --> 00:04:04.843 Hopefully it stays cloudy. 87 00:04:04.844 --> 00:04:10.016 A seventh way to keep a conversation going is to ask a question that starts this way. 88 00:04:10.283 --> 00:04:11.684 What do you think about..? 89 00:04:11.684 --> 00:04:13.386 and then finish the question. 90 00:04:13.386 --> 00:04:16.755 Maybe your brother bought a new car and you could say to your sister, 91 00:04:16.755 --> 00:04:19.958 you could ask the question, What do you think about Fred's new car? 92 00:04:20.426 --> 00:04:23.963 So it's just a way to ask a general question about something. 93 00:04:24.130 --> 00:04:27.400 Again, hoping the other person will have an opinion or respond 94 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:30.169 and it starts by saying, What do you think about..? 95 00:04:30.236 --> 00:04:33.906 It's a great way to keep a conversation flowing and moving along. 96 00:04:34.374 --> 00:04:38.044 An eighth way to keep a conversation moving along is to say that 97 00:04:38.044 --> 00:04:42.382 you can't believe something and you start it by actually saying that, I can't believe... 98 00:04:42.382 --> 00:04:44.017 And then you finish the sentence. 99 00:04:44.017 --> 00:04:46.986 I often use this phrase when I'm talking about the weather. 100 00:04:47.186 --> 00:04:49.389 I love reading the weather forecast. 101 00:04:49.389 --> 00:04:53.726 And sometimes I'll go to Jen and say, I can't believe it's going to snow tomorrow 102 00:04:53.892 --> 00:04:56.695 or I can't believe it's going to be 20 degrees tomorrow. 103 00:04:56.729 --> 00:04:59.832 That's so warm I won't even need to wear a jacket. 104 00:05:00.133 --> 00:05:03.101 So it's a good way to keep the conversation going 105 00:05:03.101 --> 00:05:07.572 because you're expressing a strong opinion in a negative way. 106 00:05:07.573 --> 00:05:13.746 And this usually has the effect of making the other person give a really cool response. 107 00:05:13.746 --> 00:05:15.982 So you can always say, I can't believe... 108 00:05:15.982 --> 00:05:17.850 and then finish the statement. 109 00:05:17.850 --> 00:05:22.522 A ninth way to keep that conversation going is to say something that starts with the words, 110 00:05:22.522 --> 00:05:26.658 It looks like..., and then describing a situation or what's around you. 111 00:05:26.926 --> 00:05:29.462 I could say, It looks like it's going to snow later today. 112 00:05:29.662 --> 00:05:31.831 It looks like we're out of milk. 113 00:05:31.831 --> 00:05:35.802 It looks like I'm going to have to stay up late tonight doing a lot of work 114 00:05:35.802 --> 00:05:38.137 so I have my project done for tomorrow. 115 00:05:38.504 --> 00:05:42.308 So it's a great way to continue a conversation because you're talking 116 00:05:42.308 --> 00:05:46.079 about something that you either see or that affects you. 117 00:05:46.212 --> 00:05:50.049 And then the other person will naturally ask you questions about what you're talking about. 118 00:05:50.116 --> 00:05:53.586 So number nine, start a sentence with the words, It looks like... 119 00:05:53.886 --> 00:05:55.321 and then finish it. 120 00:05:55.321 --> 00:05:57.724 A 10th thing you can do to keep a conversation 121 00:05:57.724 --> 00:06:01.194 going is to start a sentence with the words, You know what? 122 00:06:01.494 --> 00:06:03.495 And then say what you're going to do. 123 00:06:04.029 --> 00:06:07.265 This is usually something you say after you've made a decision. 124 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:11.104 If Jen and I are sitting in the car waiting for the rain to stop, 125 00:06:11.337 --> 00:06:12.872 I might say to her, You know what? 126 00:06:12.872 --> 00:06:16.142 I'm just going to run in the store even though the rain hasn't stopped. 127 00:06:16.142 --> 00:06:18.311 You know what? I'm just going to get wet. 128 00:06:18.811 --> 00:06:21.848 So it's kind of something you say after you've made a decision. 129 00:06:22.315 --> 00:06:22.782 You know what? 130 00:06:22.782 --> 00:06:25.485 I'm going to take an English test next year. You know what? 131 00:06:25.685 --> 00:06:28.955 I'm going to run in the rain without an umbrella because it's 132 00:06:28.955 --> 00:06:32.125 nice and warm outside and I'm not going to get that wet anyways. 133 00:06:32.125 --> 00:06:34.894 So number ten, start a sentence with, You know what, 134 00:06:35.128 --> 00:06:37.897 and then finish it by describing what you're going to do. 135 00:06:38.464 --> 00:06:41.801 Well, thank you so much for watching this English lesson about little things 136 00:06:41.801 --> 00:06:45.505 you can do to keep an English conversation moving along. 137 00:06:45.505 --> 00:06:47.005 Having some little tools 138 00:06:47.005 --> 00:06:50.475 to use when you're in an English conversation can be very, very helpful. 139 00:06:50.743 --> 00:06:54.480 So study these ten sentence starters or question starters. 140 00:06:54.781 --> 00:07:00.153 Maybe write down a few that you can memorize and use in your next English conversation. 141 00:07:00.353 --> 00:07:02.755 I guarantee you it will go much better. 142 00:07:03.122 --> 00:07:04.257 Anyways, thanks for watching. 143 00:07:04.257 --> 00:07:07.460 If this is your first time here, don't forget to click that red subscribe button. 144 00:07:07.660 --> 00:07:10.730 Give me a thumbs up, leave a comment and I hope you have a great week 145 00:07:10.730 --> 00:07:13.933 of English learning. Bye.