10 BRITISH ENGLISH INTERJECTIONS Conversation training Chat like a native
hello everyone and welcome back to
english with Lucy today I’ve got a very
special guest this is Harry from the
channel really English with real
teachers hi guys hello lovely to be in
so we are lacking a member of the of the
gang are we we’re lacking Charlie who
also works with Harry on the real
English with real teachers channel and
what’s wrong with Charlie Charlie had a
skiing accident so he can’t join us
today he is bedridden bedridden yes he
can’t get out of bed he’s recovering in
bed and I saw a picture of his x-ray
broken shoulder yeah not nice you can
see it coming out like this
oh yeah it’s rank it’s not sort of
faint-hearted no not for the
faint-hearted nice expression thank you
okay so you guys might have seen my
video about five tips to help you
improve your conversation in English if
you haven’t seen already you can have a
look up here and in that video I asked
you guys if you wanted to see something
about interjections but really to show
interjections you need a partner someone
else as well so I thought I’ve got hairy
hair let’s do it together what is the
what is an interjection an interjection
is a word or phrase that a speaker can
use to show feeling or emotion so yeah
it’s normally used in spoken English can
be used in written English as well like
in stories if the author wants to show
how a character is feeling quite useful
hmm we use that a lot in British English
we use it a lot we really do and the
thing is if you want to improve your
conversation you really need to know how
to use interjections and also understand
them yeah because they’re different in
different languages so today I’ve picked
out my top ten interjections that native
English speakers use
and I want to help you understand them
and hopefully be able to use them so
let’s get started let’s do it yeah okay
so the first interjection that we’re
going to talk about is hmm hmm now what
is hmm when would you use hmm hmm
perhaps when you are going to think
about something yes you would use hmm to
show that you are thinking about
something so it could be great if you
get asked a question and you want to buy
a bit of extra time to think of an
answer hmm okay and it’s something that
I mentioned in my previous video because
a lot of speakers will say a like that
but we tend to say hmm with our mouths
shut and this is simply because having
your mouth open in front of someone else
is considered impolite yeah yeah close
close the mouth yeah I especially for
students who are doing like the IELTS
and the Cambridge speaking exam yes and
forget that yeah like Lucy said buying
that extra time think say a British
sound not a a say hmm that’s an
interesting question yeah yeah and you
just sound more native overall by not
saying and you say hmm
yeah very polite very polite yeah yeah
okay the next one is G’s G’s okay
okay and G’s I mean where do you think
the word G’s comes from probably a
friend Jesus it comes from the word
Jesus and it normally is used to express
shock or exasperation yeah so I can say
it in two different ways if I was to say
jeez what would I be showing hmm
probably annoyance yeah that someone did
something you didn’t like
yes the third interjection that we have
chosen for you is
whew hear it often be teamed with the
hand on the forehead yeah uhuhu we would
use the few interjection to show relief
that you are relieved about something so
maybe I’m running for the bus and then I
see that it hasn’t arrived
or maybe it’s delayed I say a few thank
God
yeah no yeah so you’re very relieved
about it I said it today
did you yeah yeah what happened so Lucy
and I had real problems with the trains
today and I thought I was going to miss
it and I was going to be late for the
lovely Lucy and then I managed to catch
the train and I said you feel that the
funny thing was I was on a similar train
and I was also delayed yeah but actually
we were both delayed so there was no
issuing no no it was fine so
interjection number four is oops oops
this one I think is quite international
yeah Spanish people tend to spell it ups
like oops and when we’ve reused it when
you do something clumsy yeah when you do
something by accident something I didn’t
want to do something not too serious
yeah like we can sometimes say so Daisy
yeah and that’s quite common British I
would say very not English probably
quite a British English expression I
can’t Daisy yeah I can’t imagine an
American person going whoopsie Daisy
oops-a-daisy yeah you know what we will
probably find someone in the comments
that says no I’m American and I use it
all the time so tell us if you are
American and you use that expression
yeah number five is um and um and what
would that mean well it’s so that you
clearing your throat ready to say
something okay hmm maybe you have to
interrupt someone to fit that man yeah
I’m going to say something let me
interrupt you okay so if I was talking I
want to talk now nicely done and people
will often say at home before they make
the speech mm-hmm did you dip it in ding
on a glass mmm and then go mmm I’m going
to make speech
number six is mmm mmm this can this has
many meanings we were just discussing
that we’ve a lot to show agreement that
we agree with someone hmm so yes I’ll be
talking and Harry will be agreeing along
with me mm-hmm
because you’re very you’re very
agreeable no thank you
hurry and we would also use it if we see
something delicious you might say mmm
yeah with a different information a bit
longer
no more wave to it yeah would you say if
you saw someone and you thought they
were attractive disagree it more I think
it depends really on the body language
with that one yeah absolutely agreed but
if you want to show that you’re agreeing
with someone without interrupting them
and saying yes yes right all the time
and just going yeah can show that you
agree yeah you could do that in a
meeting like a business meeting
mmm so for the next one how would you
show that you disagree ah mm-hmm so I
would go hmm with my students if they’re
saying something wrong or if they and or
if I think yeah they’ve made a ground
mistake and I want them to realize I say
okay so we’re showing a doubt we’re
showing that we don’t agree with someone
if we go in like a sort of questioning
tone yes or the one you said the one I
said which is the next interjection
today is like yikes yikes yeah
when would we say that which we would
say yikes
they’re so negative shock nothing
normally negative okay so when I saw
Charlie’s broken bone yes that looks
painful
yeah yep so you’re like thank you don’t
good example say yikes
yeah yeah something you think that
that’s a bit disgusting like yeah
now the next one that we’re going to
talk about is really really British and
it’s something I say all the time so
much so that I actually have to cut it
out of my videos quite a lot and it is
so so so is a word that I use to
introduce speech so I know I’m going to
say something so safe so next we’re
going to talk about actually it is not
best practice to say so that much but it
could be really useful for you if you’re
doing a speaking exam because it does
again buy you a little bit of extra time
yes yes so what do you think so I think
it’s really good so yeah it’s a I did it
yeah yeah it’s a way of leading from one
idea or one step in a conversation to
the next to create intervals between
your your diction or that the words that
you say exactly so I think it’s a really
good one to use yeah the next one today
is gosh gosh gosh oh gosh and when would
we say this one well we would often say
oh my god but sometimes it’s good not to
mention God and instead we substitute it
with God
oh my gosh which can then be cut down to
just gosh oh my gosh oh oh gosh yeah and
I guess traditionally people were very
careful not to be blasphemous exactly
not to use God’s name in vain yeah
exactly yeah so people would say oh my
gosh oh my gosh because if they said oh
my god
their grandmother would say that me yeah
yes be bad about the god it’s not his
problem yeah so oh my god isn’t really
frowned upon nowadays in Britain it
might be in America though a little more
religious over there yeah okay guys that
is it for our lesson on interjections I
hope you liked it I hope you learned
something
don’t forget to check out harry’s
channel real English with real teachers
and we’ve done a couple of videos
together one just gone live over there
on minimal pairs yes yes so minimal
pairs are really important especially if
you want to avoid embarrassing situation
yes absolutely so these two pairs of
words that one word is a very nice word
like Beach the other word is not so nice
it could offend someone yes don’t forget
to connect with me on all of my social
media I’ve got my Facebook and my
Instagram and I will see you soon for
another lesson
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