14 Phrases for EXPLAINING in English
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
Can you explain that a little bit more?
Let’s talk about it.
Whether you’re explaining how to do something
or you’re explaining your thoughts, it’s important
to have the right words.
So today I’d like to help you learn 14 phrases
for explaining in English.
Sometimes my mother-in-law will spend the
night at my house so that my husband, Dan,
and I can go out on a date.
If you’ve ever helped a two year old settle
down at the end of the night and sleep, it
can be a long process.
He has to take a bath, and brush his teeth,
and then go into the room and play with his
animals, and tell some stories, sing some
songs.
It’s a long process, at least for my two year
old, but it’s worth it because he sleeps from
8:00 PM to 8:00 AM, very peacefully.
So all of that work is worth it.
But when we’re explaining this to her, we
need to explain these steps, and how to do
it so that it’s easier for her.
And so that my two year old will actually
calm down and rest at the end of the day.
In the first section of this lesson, you’re
going to be learning phrases for explaining
a process, how to do something.
And then in the second half, you’re going
to learn phrases for explaining your thoughts,
which is different, but we’ll get to that
a little bit later.
Let’s start with the first section.
How to explain a process.
To start off with, try to have dinner between
six and seven PM.
This is a great phrasal verb, to start off
with.
You can also drop the word with, and just
say, “To start off, try to have dinner between
six and 7:00 PM.”
First, second, third, fourth, fifth.
These are called ordinal numbers, because
you are ordering something.
First, take a bath directly after dinner.
Second, brush his teeth.
Third, go into the bedroom right after he
brushes his teeth.
You can use ordinal numbers for really any
number.
112th, 389th, but it gets a little bit excessive
and overwhelming to label things like that.
Generally we try to keep things under five,
especially in a spoken list.
This isn’t a rule, but I feel like if you
start saying fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth,
ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th, it gets a little
bit overwhelming.
So if you’re going to use ordinal numbers,
this is just my general recommendation.
Try to keep it at first, second, third, fourth,
fifth.
If your list gets above fifth, you can use
some of the next expressions.
Next.
Next, he’ll probably want to play with his
stuffed animals in his room with you.
Then.
Then, ask him if he wants you to read a book
or to tell him a story.
Once you’ve done that, or once you’ve finished
that, once you’ve done that, turn off the
light, sit beside his bed and tell him about
his day.
I’ve never heard of a small child wanting
to do this for comfort, but my two year old
loves when we start at the beginning of the
day and say, this morning when you woke up
we made some toast, and you just go through
the entire day.
It kind of seems like it’s cleansing to him,
it’s really sweet.
So at the end of the day, that’s one of the
things that we do, is we talk about his day.
Lastly, or finally.
Lastly, leave the room and tell him that you’ll
come back in, in just a moment to tell him
good night.
It’s such a funny thing.
My husband, Dan, always puts him to bed.
But when Dan leaves the room, my child wants
us both to peek our head in, and just say
good night.
And then he’s quiet all night.
In the end.
In the end, he’ll usually fall asleep immediately,
and then wake up around 8:00 AM in the morning.
Occasionally, he’ll wake up around midnight,
get a drink of water, use the little potty
beside his bed, and then get back in bed,
tuck himself in, and fall back asleep all
by himself.
He’s growing up.
Occasionally, maybe once a month, he’ll cry
out in the middle of the night, and Dan will
go into him and comfort him.
But that’s a pretty unusual situation.
Before we go on to section number two, which
is explaining or clarifying your thoughts,
which is different than what we just talked
about, let’s review this first section.
You’re going to really know how to put my
two year old to bed.
This is reviewing that process.
So what I want you to do is, while I’m speaking,
I want you to try to follow with my voice,
and speak out loud with me.
This is just going to help you to remember
all of these expressions, and also it’s good
for you to hear your own voice using English.
It builds confidence, and it’s great for your
pronunciation.
All right, let’s start.
To start off with, try to eat dinner sometime
between six and 7:00 PM.
First, give him a bath directly after dinner.
Second, brush his teeth.
Third, go into the bedroom directly.
Next, he’ll probably want to play with his
stuffed animals in his room with you.
Then, ask him if he wants to read a book or
for you to tell him a story.
Once you’ve done that, turn off the light,
sit beside his bed and talk about his day.
Lastly, leave the room and tell him that you’ll
peek your head in the door to say good night.
In the end, he usually falls asleep immediately,
and will wake up around 8:00 AM.
And there you have it.
Our calm, peaceful night usually starts around
8:00 PM.
Let’s go on to the second section, where I
want to help you learn seven phrases for explaining
or clarifying your thoughts.
Have you ever said something and then realized
that the other person didn’t completely understand
what you were trying to say?
Well, you need to clarify yourself.
Native speakers use these phrases a lot when
they’re trying to reexplain what they said,
so I hope that you can use them as well.
Let’s imagine the situation.
You’re trying to meet your friend for dinner,
but you’re going to be late.
Well, what are some phrases you could use?
What I mean is…
You call your friend and say, “Hey, I’m so
sorry.
I’m stuck in traffic.
I’m going to be late.
What I mean is, I’m going to be 30 minutes
late.”
In this situation, you’re clarifying directly
at that moment.
If you had said, just, “I’m going to be late,”
You’re not really giving them any details.
So if you want to clarify at that moment,
you could say, “Hey, I’m sorry, I’m going
to be late, there’s lots of traffic.
Oh, what I mean is, I’m going to be 30 minutes
late.”
What I mean is … So you’re clarifying what
the word late means.
It could be five minutes, it could be two
hours.
So you want to let them know, “What I mean
is, I’m going to be 30 minutes late.”
What if we want to use mean in the past tense?
What I meant was…
When can we use, what I meant was?
Let’s imagine that you’re in that situation,
you’re trying to meet your friend for dinner,
and you’re going to be late.
So you call your friend and say, “Hey, I’m
sorry.
Traffic is awful, I’m going to be late.”
And that’s all you say.
You hang up the phone.
And then 20 minutes later, your friend calls
you and says, “Hey, where are you?
I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes.”
You are going to need to clarify what you
previously said, so we’re going to try to
use the past tense here.
What I meant was, I’m going to be 30 minutes
late.
What I meant was…
So you’re realizing, oh no, I didn’t give
you enough details, I’m sorry.
I need to go back and clarify what I said
before.
So you’re explaining your previous statement,
“I’m going to be late,” but you’re explaining
it, using that past tense.
What I meant was … So we’re using meant,
which is the past tense, and was, which is
the past tense.
This is great, especially if you want the
other person to not feel so bad, and you are
thinking, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I should have
told you exactly what I meant.”
So you can use this wonderful expression in
your daily life, in business conversations.
“Oh, I’m sorry.
What I meant was, I’m going to be 30 minutes
late.”
Or in that same situation, your friend calls
you and says, “Hey, I’ve been waiting 20 minutes,
where are you?”
And you realize, ah, I forgot to clarify and
tell you exactly how late I was going to be,
especially with Google Maps these days, it’s
pretty easy to know how late you’re going
to be based on traffic.
So you are going to need to go back and explain,
and clarify what you originally meant.
You can say a simple phrase, “Oh, I meant
that I was going to be 30 minutes late, traffic
is awful.”
Instead of saying, “What I meant was…”
You’re just saying, “I meant..”
This is the past tense.
You’re saying, “Oh, I should have said this
before, but I didn’t, so now I’m going to
say it to you.”
Oh, I meant that I was going to be 30 minutes
late.
I’m sorry.
I forgot to tell you.
It was kind of crazy in traffic.
I meant that I was going to be 30 minutes
late.
Okay.
Are you ready to take this to the next level?
The final four phrases are used generally
in negative situations to clarify and explain
something, but each one has a slightly different
meaning, so you need to make sure that you
understand how other people are using it so
that you know their context, and also when
you use it, you need to make sure you use
it in the correct way.
So for each of these final four statements,
we’re going to be looking at two different
situations.
One is how to use that statement in an indirect
way, and one is how to use it in a more direct
way.
So take a deep breath, we’ve talked about
a lot so far, let’s talk about these final
four explaining phrases.
Let’s say that your friend asks you about
your new job and your friend asks, “How’s
the job going?
Is it what you thought it would be?
How were your coworkers?
What’s your boss like?”
But unfortunately, your job isn’t going that
well.
How can you clarify and explain this situation?
You can use our first phrase, “Let me put
it this way.”
Let me put it this way, I probably should
have stayed at my old job.
In this situation you’re not saying, “I hate
my new job, it’s terrible.”
You’re being indirect.
You’re saying something positive about your
old job.
Let me put it this way, I probably should
have stayed at my old job.
You’re choosing to use a clarification or
an explanation in a positive way.
But can we use, “let me put it this way,”
to be even more direct?
Yes.
Let’s look at another situation.
If you go on a date with someone and you’re
trying to explain how your date went, you
might say, “Oh yeah, the food was good, he
was nice, and kind, and handsome.
And he picked me up on time.”
Well, these are all general statements.
How can we make this more direct and more
concise?
We can use this expression and say, “But,
let me put it this way.
We just didn’t have a good connection.”
So you’re using all of these general statements,
and then you’re narrowing it down to one final
conclusion, “Let me put it this way, we just
didn’t have a good connection.”
So if you want to use this in a direct way,
you definitely can.
As opposed to our previous way, which is taking
something that’s narrow, “Well, ah, I think
instead I should have stayed at my old job,”
you’re being very indirect.
Instead, we’re doing the opposite.
We’re taking general words, “He’s kind and
handsome, the food was good.
But let me put it this way, we just didn’t
have a good connection.”
You’re making the summary of this situation
to be more direct.
The next phrase, “The thing is,” can be used
both in an indirect way and in a direct way.
If you’re talking about your new job that
you don’t really like, you might say, “Well,
the thing is, I miss my old coworkers.
What are you trying to say here, but you’re
not saying directly?
When you say, “I miss my old coworkers,” you’re
kind of implying that your new coworkers aren’t
that great.
Maybe the atmosphere isn’t very enjoyable
at the new job, but you’re not saying that,
you’re choosing to say something positive.
The thing is I miss my old coworkers.
This is quite indirect.
You’re not directly saying something negative
about your new job.
But we can use, “The thing is,” to be more
direct.
Let’s look at that second situation where
you go on a date and it doesn’t really go
that well.
You might use this as a conclusion or a summary.
“The thing is, we just didn’t have a good
connection.”
So you’re being very direct.
The thing is, we just didn’t have a good connection.
Instead of saying, “Well, the thing is, I
just don’t really have much time to devote
to a relationship,” this is very indirect.
You can also use it directly and say, “The
thing is, we just didn’t have a good connection.:
It’s straightforward and clear.
Let’s go to the next one.
“Well, you see…”
If we want to talk about that new job that
you don’t really like, you might say, “Well,
you see, the boss is nice, but I’m not a fan
of the commute.”
Here you’re being indirect.
You’re saying something positive, but you’re
also saying something negative, your true
feelings.
The boss is nice, but I’m not a fan of the
commute.
Well, you see, you’re kind of introducing
this indirect statement.
But like the previous two, we can use this
to be more direct.
If you want to explain your boring date night
and your friend says, “Well, it looks like
everything was great.
The food was good.
He was nice and handsome, picked you up on
time.
What’s wrong?”
You might say, “Well, you see, we just didn’t
have a good connection.”
So here you’re summarizing, like in the previous
two expressions, you’re summarizing this directly.
Well, you see, we just didn’t have a good
connection.
If you go on a date with someone and you tell
them, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to go on a
second date because we just don’t have a good
connection.”
It’s probably not the best thing to say to
them, at least in my opinion.
It feels like there’s no way that the other
person can improve from that statement.
It’s so general, but this is something that
people often say about going on a date, we
just didn’t have a good connection, and so
I’m not going to go on another date.
We just didn’t have a good connection.
In other words, if you’re talking about that
boring job, you might say, “In other words,
I guess no job is perfect.”
Well, you’re not saying I hate this job.
Instead you’re being indirect and saying,
“No job is perfect, every job has flaws.
Okay, I guess that I will continue with my
new job.”
In other words, you’re trying to explain something
with different words.
In other words, I guess no job is perfect.
We can use this phrase, in other words, for
positive situations, but it’s more likely
to be used in negative situations.
So let’s look at that date situation to see
how you can use it to be direct.
In other words, we just didn’t have a good
connection.
“In other words,” so you’re saying all of
these indirect things, and then you’re summarizing,
“In other words, we just didn’t have a good
connection.”
But if we want to use this phrase in a positive
situation, let’s imagine that your date goes
wonderfully.
And you had such a fantastic time, you talked
for hours and hours, you felt so comfortable.
You might say, “In other words, I think he
is the one.”
“The one,” means your soulmate.
So you’re summarizing your date by saying,
“In other words, I think he’s the one.
This is it.”
Same as before, you probably shouldn’t tell
your date this after only one date, it’s a
little bit strong, but feel free to tell your
friend if you want.
All right, let’s review the second section
of explanatory phrases so that you can practice
them out loud.
I challenge you to speak out loud again, repeat
with my voice, and remember these phrases.
What I mean is, I’m going to be 30 minutes
late.
What I meant was that I will be at least 30
minutes late, traffic is awful.
Oh, I meant that I would be at least 30 minutes
late, traffic is awful.
Let me put it this way, I should probably
have stayed at my old job.
The thing is, I thought I would like it, but
I miss my old coworkers.
Well, you see, the bosses nice, but I’m not
a fan of the commute.
In other words, I guess that no job is perfect.
Great work, practicing all of these phrases
for explaining things in English.
As you can see, there are a lot of different
nuances and ways that you can explain a process,
or explain and clarify your thoughts.
I hope that you’ll be able to recognize these
phrases when native speakers use them, and
when you hear them and movies and TV shows,
but the next step above that is to be able
to use them yourself.
So feel free to repeat this lesson, and practice
them as much as possible.
And now I have a question for you.
Let’s use those phrases for explaining a process.
In the comments, can you tell me what steps
you take this morning to get ready for the
day?
You might say, “Well, to start off with, I
got out of bed and washed my face,” and then
you can go on and tell me the other things
that you did using those explanatory phrases.
Thank you so much for learning English with
me, and I’ll see you again next Friday for
a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye!
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Thanks so much, bye.