Criticise POLITELY without being RUDE Polite English Criticism Phrases

hello everyone and welcome back to

english with lucy today we are going to

talk about alternatives for one of the

most hated phrases in the English

language no offence is there a more

offensive phrase than no offense when

somebody says no offense but you know

they’re going to follow that with

something offensive it’s just the way

people are so I have 11 alternatives for

you that you can use to give criticism

per lightly so this video is perfect for

improving your vocabulary but if you

want to improve your listening skills

and your pronunciation skills even

further then I highly recommend the

special method of reading a book whilst

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audible it sounds a bit odd but let me

explain it’s a really good method take a

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inaudible reading alone will not help

you with your pronunciation the way a

word is spelt in English doesn’t

necessarily give you much information as

to how it’s pronounced in English if you

listen to a word as you read it your

brain will start making connections and

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down you’ll know exactly how to say it

how it’s meant to sound the

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right number one is with respect

or with all due respect with all due

respect that’s slightly more formal this

is something you can add before you are

going to say something that could

potentially cause offence you’re showing

the listener that you’re not trying to

be disrespectful you’re saying it in a

respectful way an example with all due

respect I really don’t think it’s

appropriate to wear a white dress as a

wedding guest is this a thing in your

country and culture I know not all

cultures have white wedding dresses we

do here in the UK and it is extremely it

found upon to wear white to someone’s

wedding and I went to a wedding last

summer and there was a woman in a long

white dress and I was appalled I tell

you did I say anything about it to her

no I didn’t because I’m British did I

silently judge her of course I did

because I’m British number two is I’m

going to be very honest with you or I’m

gonna be honest with you if you want to

be a bit more informal and speak using

slang terms like Gunnar

this is something you can say again

before you say something that could be

offensive you are preparing the listener

for the criticism that is going to come

next an example I’m going to be very

honest with you I wasn’t happy with how

you behaved in my party now this is said

in all english-speaking countries but

especially in Britain because we do have

a habit of not being honest the example

I gave before of how I didn’t tell the

woman that she shouldn’t have worn white

well that’s pretty common behavior we

don’t necessarily say things we like to

avoid confrontation so for us if we are

going to confront someone it’s a big

deal and we need to prepare them I’m

going to be honest with you that brings

me on to my next one number three let’s

be frank let’s be frank to be frank is

to be honest and direct if somebody is a

frank person and they are very to the

point

this means pretty much the same thing

but it kind of opens the opportunity to

have an honest conversation let’s be

honest with one another

have an honest conversation it’s not me

saying I’m going to be honest with you

it’s saying let’s be frank let’s be

honest with each other

an example let’s be frank you haven’t

excelled in your exams this year number

four is a very very common one and it’s

actually considered more slang in the UK

it’s actually a phrase that I think a

lot of people might think is overused or

becoming overused it is I’m not going to

lie well now just shorten down to not

gonna lie not gonna lie and it’s there

you say it before you’re about to

criticize someone or something or maybe

when you’re going to give a really

honest negative opinion about someone

not gonna lie your singing wasn’t great

not gonna lie her top was the ugliest

top I’ve ever seen in my life

my god that’s so so mean but it’s one

that is thrown around a lot it is used a

lot and it can be very confusing because

you might think well of course you

shouldn’t lie why would you lie it’s

just a phrase now number five sometimes

you do just want to say no offense but

but we can say it in a much more formal

way we could say I don’t mean to offend

but or I don’t mean to offend you but

this sounds a little bit nicer sometimes

you just can’t escape using no offense

we can also say without meaning to

offend you or without meaning to offend

an example without meaning to offend you

your work hasn’t been up to scratch

recently up to scratch means up to the

standard number 6 is another slang one

it’s very commonly used it’s don’t get

me wrong don’t get me wrong and we’re

using get here as in receive I’ve got a

video all about the many uses of get

there are a lot I warn you but we’re

saying don’t receive me in the wrong way

don’t interpret

saying in the wrong way it basically

means don’t misunderstand me an example

don’t get me wrong but I think we need

to have a chat about the incident you

wouldn’t really use this in a formal

situation this is more between friends

and acquaintances number seven is a nice

phrase that you can say instead of I’ve

been watching you and I’ve seen that

you’ve done something wrong if you want

to of course express that you have been

watching someone and they have been

doing something wrong you can say I’ve

noticed that I’ve noticed that this is

something that said a lot in offices

I’ve noticed that you’ve been spending a

lot of time by the water cooler or I’ve

noticed that you aren’t always reaching

your deadlines it’s a nice way of saying

I’ve been observing you and you’re not

doing anything right number eight a way

of saying you’re doing lots of things

wrong and you’re really not performing

as you should you could say there’s room

for improvement there’s room for

improvement you’re doing okay but

there’s still a little room for

improvement an example I appreciate how

hard you’ve worked but there still is

room for improvement here now number

nine is using a conditional to express

criticism it is this lovely phrase if

you can learn it and use it as a set

phrase that’s fantastic if I were you I

would and then the advice what you would

do instead of saying you should do this

which people don’t necessarily like if I

were you I would do it this way

oh people love that an example if I were

you I would look at implementing a

different strategy translates roughly as

change your strategy number ten what

about a nice rhetorical question to set

off some criticism I love them if you

want to give someone some constructive

criticism you could say believe it or

not could I offer you a bit of

constructive criticism they can’t

exactly say no can they especially if

you’re their boss an example can I offer

you a little constructive criticism try

using a spellchecker

handing in your assignment now number 11

is something that we actually add to the

end of sentences to emphasize them a

little bit in English especially in

British English we have the habit a huge

habit of reducing everything trying to

make things seem not quite as important

or profound as they actually are for

example if you gave me the most

disgusting cup of tea ever I would say

oh well it’s not the worst he I’ve ever

had or oh yes I think I could get used

to it it’s a real issue and we often use

this technique whilst delivering

criticism but if you decide that you

actually do want the receiver of the

criticism to realize how badly they’ve

performed you can add to say the least

onto the end I think you could have done

better to say the least or to put it

mildly you don’t smell great to put it

mildly both of these are used to suggest

that something is far worse or more

extreme than you are saying it does make

the English language quite complex

because we don’t actually say what we

mean but don’t shoot the messenger I’m

just trying to help an example you

behaved inappropriately at the staff

party to say the least

and number 12 this one is used in the

middle of a criticising sentence and

this one actually is quite different to

the previous one this one is used to

make a statement or criticism appear

less severe or offensive it is shall we

say shall we say an example your report

was shall we say a little lacking it’s

almost like how do I put this how can I

choose a non offensive term to describe

the monstrosity with which I have been

presented your report was shall we say a

little lacking or your reaction was

shall we say a little over-the-top

meaning your reaction was completely and

utterly over-the-top

right that’s it for today’s lesson how

to say offensive things and give

criticism without causing offence in a

polite or at least British manner don’t

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soon for another lesson

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