We all give compliments when someone does great in their field of work. But, do we give meaningful compliments? In this English lesson learn how to use English phrases to give some compliments that stand true to the situation and have an in-depth meaning. This spoken English lesson will teach you English phrases for giving compliments that are unique to the situation, using such phrases will portray you someone who is polished and has great command over the English language. This English lesson is one of the chosen lessons from our bank of free English lessons in an attempt to teach you situational English. Master these English phrases to sound more fluent in English.
Complete Lesson Transcript –
Well hello and welcome to today’s lesson, my name is Rima and yes today is all about meaningful compliments. Now when I use the word meaningful, I mean that the compliment that you’re giving somebody should have a certain meaning. It should have a certain weight and depth. It shouldn’t just be like a normal, boring compliment. Now if you use meaningful compliments which are unique to the situation, you’ll come across as someone who is polished, someone who has great command over their English. So let’s look at the first one.
You are a great listener. Now sometimes, you meet some quiet people, who are very pleasing, very positive, very pleasant but they don’t really talk much but what they do is, they let you talk a lot, they let you express yourself, which makes them, very patient listeners. So a great compliment to give to such a person is, you know what, I’ve realized, you’re a great listener. That makes the person feel so valued, so appreciated. So really, learn to use this one, this is a great compliment to give. You are a great listener meaning someone who listens patiently. So mostly, I’ve heard women talk about how they like it when a guy is a great listener because women really like to talk a lot about themselves, their feelings, they’re very emotional and expressive and if you’re a guy and you can inculcate this quality of listening patiently, well you have it made for you.
Moving on, I have the next one, which is, you come across as a really confident person. Now if you meet someone who’s very together, very sure of what they’re doing or saying or the work they’re doing, a great compliment to give such a person is, you come across as a really confident person. Meaning you come across as a person, who has great confidence in themselves, in what they say and in their work. Now you’d give this compliment mostly to a person who’s kind of new to you or whom you don’t know very well and I’ll tell you why. So let’s say, you have a friend, who you known for like 10 years. Now you know when your friend is confident, you know when he or she is not confident. so you would never tell that person, you come across as really confident person coz you could just say, you know what at times, you’re really confident, at times you lack confidence coz you know the person. But if you meet someone new whom you don’t know very well and the person comes across as very sure of themselves, then you can give them this compliment. You can say, you come across as a really confident person and it’ll work just fine.
Moving on, this one, oh my God, who doesn’t like to hear this one? You can say this to all the people whose work, you really like, work you really appreciate. I think your work is incredible. well, I’ve put an exclamation mark there because whenever I appreciate someone’s work, I actually get very excited about it and I actually say it in this particular tone by saying, I think your work is incredible. so, well, this is for all the people who you work with or who you know professionally who do some great work and if you want to encourage them, if you want to say something nice to them, instead of saying something as simple, plain and boring as you look nice today, oh wow, you have a nice office, you could just say, I think your work is incredible. And that would really make the person feel really good and appreciated.
Moving on, now this one, you should reserve only for special occasions or special people. Now we always come across people in personal lives and in our work lives, who really inspire us to do better in terms of work or to become better people or to kind of, you know, be better in the way we speak or carry ourselves or be better in the way we look or dress or groom ourselves. Now such people are very inspiring, meaning, they encourage you to have the same quality. Okay so if you know somebody who really inspires you to be better at work or if you know somebody who’s very sincere but we when you look at that person, you get inspired to become really sincere and hardworking, then you could just compliment that person by saying, you know what, you inspire me or whenever I look at you, you always inspire me to become a better person. Now that’s a great compliment but let me tell you this compliment cannot be given to just about anyone. It has to be for somebody who genuinely makes you feel very excited and inspired and makes you want to become better either at your work or as a person. So make sure you reserve this one for all those special and important people in your life, you inspire me.
Moving on, there is, I think you’ll make a wonderful parent. Now we all have friends who are either expecting children or want to have children or sometimes are not very sure about how they’ll be as parents. So if you really listen to your friends or these people talking about their fears and insecurities, now you don’t know how to make it better, but you can give them a compliment well in advance by saying, you know what, I really think that you will make a wonderful, kind parent. now when you say that, it’s like giving them a compliment in advance because they’re not already parents but at the same time, you are encouraging them and giving them confidence. Now if one compliment from you can achieve both these things, encouraging somebody and giving them confidence, then I think it’s a wonderful compliment. so you must use it as and when it’s relevant to the situation and tell the person, you know what don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll make a wonderful parent or let’s say, a couple that you know just announced that they’re gonna have a baby. So you could walk up to them and say, congratulations to the both of you, I think you will both make wonderful parents. Now, this hasn’t already happened but it’s like a confidence of yours that you know that they’ll really be wonderful parents which is why you’ll use this compliment.
Moving on, now this one doesn’t need any encouragement from me. Okay if you have a wonderful friend, someone who’s been there for you in bad times and in good times, then very naturally, you can just go tell that person, you know what, you’re an amazing friend, I’m so lucky to have you in my life. Now it always happens that you kind of know your friends in and out. you know their qualities, their strengths, their weaknesses and a lot of times, compliments don’t really flow well between friends because we are already so familiar but once in a while maybe on Friendship day or on their birthday or on a special occasion, you can always make your friend feel very valued by saying, you’re such an amazing friend. You say this line and you need not say more because it kind of shows your friend how much that person means to you.
Moving on, this one is one of my favourite compliments. Now in the course of life, one comes across many people who are genuinely kind, compassionate, generous who are doing a lot of good work not just for themselves but for other people. So if you come across somebody like that, let’s say somebody who is doing a lot of work for kids. You know somebody who is working with underprivileged kids or somebody who is doing a lot of community service, you know what, instead of telling that person, you’re doing great work. Now that is kind of common because the person knows he or she is doing great work, which is why they are doing that work. You could just something like, what a kind heart you have! And that’s such a beautiful thing to say and you could say this, to somebody you know really well or to someone you’ve just met. Now how are you saying that? You’re saying this based on their work or based on their behaviour towards certain people and certain things. So you can just say, wow, what a kind heart you have! I wish I could just be like you and I think that is flattering, at the same time, it’s a fantastic compliment to give.
so well I really hope that you’ve figured out, how to give people great meaningful compliments that add value to their lives and add value to your relationship with them, instead of your normal, plain, boring compliments like you look great, you look happy. Wow! I love what you’re wearing coz all of these can seem very shallow when you talk about real compliments like these. So the next time you see some amazing quality in a person try and compliment that quality and that will make for a meaningful compliment. I really hope that you’ve enjoyed today’s lesson and make sure you subscribe to our channel. I’m going to catch you later; this is me, Rima, signing out.
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