4 Tips for Natural English Conversation Responses Improve English Speaking
Hello, I’m Daniel.
Welcome to Oxford Online English!
In this lesson, you can learn to respond naturally
in conversations in English.
If you simply stare at the other person when
they’re talking to you, your conversations
might not go so well.
We’re partly joking, but when you’re speaking
a second language, you often need to concentrate
on understanding what the other person is
saying.
This means you might forget to respond naturally,
but natural responses are important to keep
your conversation going, and also to show
the other person that you care about what
they’re saying.
This lesson will show you natural conversational
responses which you can use to express interest,
surprise, agreement, confusion, and much more!
When someone’s telling you a story, it’s
important to show interest in what they’re
saying.
First, let’s see what not to do.
The other day, I met up with an old friend
from high school.
It was great to catch up with him!
Mmm-hmm.
He’s had such an interesting life.
At the moment, he’s working in an orangutan
sanctuary in Borneo.
Mmm-hmm.
Next, he told me he’s planning to develop
a spaceship which can take humans to Mars!
Mmm-hmm. Of course, you can nod your head and
say mmm-hmm or hmm, but that doesn’t sound
like you’re very interested.
There are other ways to show that you’re
engaged.
Let’s look at a better way to do this.
I had a chat with my boss the other day and
he’s putting me on this great new project.
Really?
That’s great!
So I visited my family last Sunday and we
had a lovely barbecue.
Sounds nice!
The exam was really hard, I’m not sure if
I’ve passed it.
Is that right? Of course, you
can’t be interested in everything that someone
is saying to you.
But, it’s still helpful to show that you’re
listening, and that you understand what the
other person is saying.
Let’s see some useful phrases you can use
to do this. My car broke down last week, so
I had to get it repaired.
Oh, yeah?
It seemed like it was leaking oil.
I see.
They told me it wasn’t too bad, they could
get it fixed easily.
Uh-huh.
Some situations need stronger responses, for
example if you hear something surprising.
My sister broke up with her boyfriend.
Seriously?
Yeah, it turned out he was seeing someone
else.
You must be joking!
It was her best friend!
No way! In this section, you saw how to show
interest,
understanding and surprise.
How many of the responses can you remember?
Take a look, and pause the video if you need
more time to read.
I think we’re done here, right?
I don’t think so, actually.
That last episode of Game of Thrones was amazing!
For sure!
I really like Sarah’s new haircut.
It looks great on her.
Absolutely!
People shouldn’t be so negative, especially
if they don’t have anything to contribute
themselves.
I couldn’t agree more! Of course, sometimes
you might NOT agree with the other person.
How could you respond then?
I’m glad Eric got the promotion to be our
team leader.
He’s such a great guy!
I’m not so sure about that.
I think I’m going to take my husband to
a spa.
I’m sure he’ll enjoy it.
You really think so?
The media should stop talking about celebrities
getting together and breaking up.
Who cares?!
I don’t see it that way; if people want
to read about it, why not let them? In this
section, you’ve seen three phrases you can
use to agree, and three phrases to disagree.
Can you remember them all?
Next, how about some language to respond to
suggestions?
Great idea!
Whenever you want to make plans with friends,
decide on a place to have dinner or plan a
meeting with colleagues, you’ll need to
respond to other people’s suggestions.
Let’s see how you can do this. Why don’t
we go for a bike ride this Saturday?
Sorry, I can’t on Saturday.
What about Sunday?
Ok, Sunday it is!
It’s Rita’s birthday tomorrow.
How about we buy her a bottle of wine from
the team?
I’m not sure if she likes wine.
Maybe we can get her some flowers and chocolate?
That sounds good!
What do you think of this colour for the living
room?
I don’t know…
It looks quite dark.
I think it’ll make the room feel gloomy.
Can we try a lighter shade?
Yeah, sure. Here, you saw three phrases you
can use to reject a suggestion, and three
phrases to accept.
Can you remember any of them?
Here are the phrases you saw; pause the video
if you need more time to read:
You can see that it’s common to use a vague
phrase to reject a suggestion, like I’m
not sure or I don’t know.
This is important as a non-native speaker
of English: people are often more indirect
when saying ‘no’ to something.
Of course, this depends on the culture you’re
in, and the people you’re with.
However, it’s a good idea to remember that
if you make a suggestion, and people reply
in very vague ways, they will often be saying
‘no’ to your idea. I’m confused about
what Daniel means…
If only there was some way I could ask him
to clarify what he said.
My computer just crashed, I think it has a
virus.
You should start it in Safe Mode and run a
virus scan.
You’ve lost me.
What’s “safe mode”?
It’s a special way to start your computer,
use F8 when you turn on the computer and it
will start the system in safe mode.
Sorry, I didn’t catch that; could you say
it one more time?
So, press F8 as soon as you turn on the computer,
and when the system starts, you can scan for
viruses.
Okay, so, you mean that I need to turn on
the computer, press F8, and then run the virus
scan?
That’s right.
And then what?
It depends what the virus scan shows.
Hold on, are you saying that I might have
to do more stuff after that?
This sounds like a huge hassle.
Well, sure.
If you have a virus or other malware, you’ll
need to remove it.
I think I’ll just take it to the shop.
Suit yourself!
It’s common not to understand exactly what
someone else said, even for native speakers.
Even if you understood, you might need more
information.
In these cases, you can use these phrases
to ask for clarification. Now, you’ve learned
some natural conversational responses to deal
with many different situations in English.
Let’s practice what you’ve learned!
Now it’s time to practice!
We’ll show you some phrases which you need
to respond to.
Depending on the situation, there are often
different ways in which you can respond.
Let’s do an example together!
Here’s a phrase:
I need to go to the shop to buy couscous.
And here are three possible responses:
Why don’t we go together?
OK, I see.
You’ve lost me.
What’s couscous?
You can respond with a suggestion: “Why
don’t we go together?”
Maybe you just want to show you understood,
so you say: “OK, I see”.
But, maybe you don’t understand what your
friend needs to buy, so you ask: “You’ve
lost me.
What’s couscous?”
For the next phrases, think of responses you
would give.
We’ll show some examples on the screen,
but of course, there are many good ways to
respond!
Ready?
Here’s your first sentence.
Last weekend I finally bought a new phone,
but when I got home and opened the box, it
turned out they had given me the wrong one!
Here’s another one.
Think about how you would respond.
Justin Bieber is the best singer in the world;
I can’t wait to go to his concert!
Let’s do one more:
How about we go hiking in the mountains this
weekend? To practice, tell us which responses
you would choose, and why.
Let us know in the comments, and you can check
that you’re using these phrases in a natural
way!
Want more practice with this topic?
Check out the full version of this lesson
on our website: Oxford Online English dot
com.
We also have many other free English lessons
which you can watch and learn from.
Thanks for watching!
See you next time!