Thing, the most easiest word in the English language, but did you know you could use it many more context in spoken English. Learn some interesting ways to use Thing in English conversations. In this English speaking practice lesson with Sonia, you will learn the different uses of the word Thing, other than it’s literal meaning.
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Complete Lesson Transcript-
Hi friends my name is Sonia and welcome to today's lesson. Well, I'd like to share something with you. A while ago I had a friend whose name was Peter, so one day I was just walking by and I saw him and I said, Hey peter. How are things? And he looked at me, he gave me a really strange look and said. What things? I don't have any things with me. And I said no I mean to say, How are you? How is everything going with you? And he said, Oh well everything is going fine, I'm good thank you so much. And then that was that, but then later on I realized, Why was he so confused? I mean I asked him a very simple question. How are things? Which means how's everything going with you? How are you? Etc. But he got confused and then I realized that the word things is used mostly just for something which is non living. Which doesn't have any name, any kind of an object. So a lot of people may not really know that there are so many expressions in the English language that can be used with the word thing or things. I don't want you to be in that situation, so today we will do a lesson on, Expressions with the word thing. So let's have a look. The very first one say's, What do you think about the whole thing? So for example, If you know it's the budget time and the taxes have been increased by the government so if you just want to take someone's opinion about this particular thing. You could say, What do you think about the whole taxes thing? So this is a very informal way to get someone's opinion. So you can use this expression to ask for an opinion. It's a good way to start the conversation. What do you think about the whole taxes thing? The next one is, This whole thing looks messed up. Now if you want to talk about a problem some kind of an issue, so for example, If your boss has decided to move the office into another building. Which you don't really like, you don't really find it very convenient. So you need to taken all your papers, find everything, move all your stuff around and you don't really like this entire moving. So you could say, Well hey this whole moving thing looks messed up. I really don't like it. So here you can use this phrase to talk about an issue or some kind of a problem. The next one, Now this is a great way to start off when you need to explain something to someone or give someone a reason for something. So for example, If you have a very close friend and whose going to have his wedding anniversary party on a Saturday, but you have a very important client meeting to attend, which you just can't avoid. So this is a sticky situation. How would you tell your friend? So you could say, Hey John the thing is that, I have an extremely important business meeting to attend, so I can't come to your party, but I will make it up by having lunch with you on Sunday. So when you start your sentence using the thing is that, you are kind of setting up an atmosphere for your friend to know that, there's something that he's going to say now, which I may not really like. But let's see what he has to say. So the thing is that is a phrase which you can use to explain something to someone. Just look at it, you know just one word thing used in three expressions already all three of them can be used differently. The next one is, The funny thing is that, now let me give you an example and I'm sure you'll understand well. Imagine that you've been planning a shopping a shopping day with your friends since a couple of weeks now and your'e really excited about it. You dress up, you take your shopping bag. You've selected a mall to go to and all of you'll meet at the mall. You shopped and everything's done really excited. Finally when you go to the counter to pay your bill. You put your hand into your bag and you find. Oops, there's no wallet, there's no purse and that's when you can say something like, Girls you know the funny thing is that I forgot my purse. Now you using this phrase to talk about something , which you didn't expect at all, It's not funny It's actually something very weird that happened, but It's a little amusing also in a way. So you could say, The funny thing is that I forgot my purse. Can someone just pitch in for me? So funny thing is that is to talk about something unexpected. Something which you didn't really think could happen, planning a shopping day and forgetting your purse that's the weirdest thing to happen to a person. The next one here is, Here's the thing. Now here's is basically here plus is, so here's the thing. This is a conversation starter and a very great one which you can use when you want to make an offer to someone. So for example, If you are a businessman and your'e trying to strike a deal with another businessman, so you could say, Well hey here's this thing, here's the thing. I will give you eighty percent of the profits if you run the outlet for me. That's a very positive way to make an offer, here's the thing. And this one of course how are things? Is what I spoke about in the beginning, How are things is a very nice and friendly way to say, How's everything going? How's life? How's everything with you? So it's a nice informal way to ask, How are you? For example, How are things? So remember this one. Don't get confused if someone asks you this question. The next one here on the board is, Things are looking up. So what things are looking up? Where? Nothing is looking anywhere. This is a phrase that you can use, when you want to say that everything is going on very smoothly right now. Everything in your life is going very well, your'e very happy with your current situation. So you can say, Well hey you know things are really looking up for me. I just got promoted and I'm really happy. So when you want to say that everything is going well, things are looking up. The next one is totally the opposite. So when obviously in life we have our ups and downs, It's not always a smooth sailing, so when you are in a sticky situation and when things are not going pretty well, your'e a little low in life. You could say, Well hey things are pretty bad right now, but I'm sure I'll do better, I'm sure things will go fine in sometime soon. So things are pretty bad. Let me just put that down here for you. Talking about a low situation in life, so hope this doesn't happen to anyone. But if you get fired from your job. You could say, Well hey things are pretty bad right now, I just got fired. I hope I get a job soon. And the last and final one that we have is really nice one. I really like this, The great thing about something is. Now this is a great way to talk about something positive. Specially if you are maybe in the marketing line and you want to promote your product to someone. You could say, Well, the great thing about using our product is that it's Eco friendly or maybe if you are someone whose joined yoga class recently and you really love yoga. It's really doing good for you, so you could say, Well hey the great thing about yoga is that it makes you so flexible and keeps you so fresh and active. So that's how you can use the great thing. So this is to talk about something positive. And remember when you use this phrase. You need to really sound positive, you need to have a lot of energy in your tone, because your'e taking about something which is really good. So this is how we can use, we've got nine phrases here. All have the word thing, all are pretty different from each other and just see how such a simple word can be used in such beautiful ways in the English language. This brings me to the end of the lesson. I hope that you guys enjoyed watching this video. Do keep practicing and take care of yourself. I'll see you soon till then take care. Bye bye.
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