Speaking

When you ask for a favor from someone, you actually request them or ask them to do something beneficial for you. To do so, you must use convincing expressions so that they do you that favor. Remember! Unless you ask for a favor from someone appropriately, you can’t expect to get it.

In this post, I’ll share some expressions that can help you ask for favors in English from your friends, family members, teachers, colleagues, bosses, and others.

“Would you please do me a favor?” and “Can I ask you for a favor?” are the two most common expressions to ask for a favor in English. While asking for a favor, you are expected to be polite in your choice of words, tone, and body language. You should also be minimalistic and specific about the favor you ask for.

In our everyday life, we need to ask people around us to do something, either in the form of orders, instructions, requests, or suggestions. Sometimes, we face difficulties providing clear instructions due to not knowing appropriate English expressions. The way … continue reading

Generally, regret is a feeling that we express when we feel bad for doing or not doing something. You will hardly find someone who never regretted any of their behaviors or actions. I find some of my ESL students make mistakes in their assignments, miss interesting lectures and forget the assessment dates, and later regret it.

However, most of them face problems expressing their regret verbally or in emails or texts. No worries! I’ll discuss some very common and smart ways of expressing regret in English in detail in this post.

There are many phrases you can use to regret doing or not doing something, such as “I regret…”, “I wish I had…”, “I repent for…”, and “I should have….” The following table shows 11 different expressions with examples that you can use to express regret.

When someone dies, we show our sympathy to their relatives or friends. Though it’s difficult to console someone when they lose their dear ones, your condolence can help them restore their strength. However, it appears challenging for many ESL speakers … continue reading

As social beings, we regularly meet new people and get to know each other to develop social relationships. However, it may not seem easy to talk to new people to many of us. On the other hand, some people can … continue reading

Offering something to someone is an act of generosity, and it is quite common as a part of our social customs. Though the purpose of offering always seems noble, it may go wrong if you don’t know how to do it.

In this post, I’ll share some example sentences about offering something to someone, such as food, a job, help, a gift, a company, friendship, a discount, assurance, explanations, incentives, etc.

While offering something to someone, the expression may come out in the form of questions, requests, or asking for permission. There are so many ways you can offer someone food, help, gift, company, friendship, job, assurance, explanation, discount, incentives, etc. Here are some examples:

Greetings are the conversation starters, no matter whether you are talking to someone face to face or over the phone. As a greeting creates the first impression, it plays a vital role in determining whether the conversation will go well … continue reading

We may not always have great days. Yesterday, I had a bad day that I’ll share today. And like me, you may also have bad days at home, school, or work that you want to share with someone close to you. How would you describe that? No worries! In this post, we will explore some words, phrases, and expressions that you can use to describe a bad day to your friends, family members, colleagues, or someone else.

There are different words or phrases, such as a terrible day, a horrible day, an awful day, a tough day, a hard day, a crappy day, etc., that you can use to describe a bad day at home or school or work. Moreover, you are expected to show the reasons why you think you had a bad day or share the incidents that made your day bad.

Recognizing someone’s good qualities or appreciating people for their good deeds motivates them to keep up the good work. However, many of my ESL students face difficulties appreciating people in English as they have limited knowledge about appropriate expressions of appreciation.

There are hundreds of ways you can appreciate someone. I’ll share some specific expressions to appreciate someone in English in this post.   

To appreciate someone, you can talk about their inner and outer beauty and good qualities, including their creativity, professionalism, sense of art, singing, cooking, voice, eyes, smile, etc. You should be honest and thankful from the core of your heart while appreciating someone rather than saying good things merely to make them happy.

Asking for a discount may seem impolite and disgraceful to many people. However, I think before spending money on anything, especially while buying expensive products, you should ask for a deal that may benefit you. There is no shame in saving your money by asking for a discount.

If you think the same way, this post is for you. Here I’ll share some exclusive ways of asking for a discount in English without sounding impolite.

As a general rule, while asking for a discount, you are expected to be polite, rational, and indirect. Your choice of words & tone must be so persuasive that the person you ask for a discount from agrees to the deal. You can ask for a discount by saying, “May I expect a discount on this?” or “Do you have any promotion right now?”