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  • Hi. My name is Rebecca, and in today's lesson, I'm going to show you how to discuss or how

  • to start discussing any subject intelligently. Now, when we start to discuss anything, you

  • want to give the listener a frame of reference. We want to give the listener an idea what

  • we're talking about. So the expressions that I'm going to show you will do just that; they

  • will provide a context to discuss whatever you are talking about. Okay? So let's look

  • at some of these common expressions.

  • Okay, so I've divided them into three. Okay? I've divided them into three areas because

  • they are slightly different in terms of the way they're structured.

  • The first one is like this: "From a political point of view," okay? What I'm giving you

  • here is just the introduction. Okay? After this comma, you need to say whatever your

  • opinion is. But this is to give it a context and to tell your listener that you're going

  • to talk about the political side, the politics of it. Okay? "From a political point of view,"

  • -you might say : "I believe we need a drastic change in the government." Okay?

  • Or: "From an environmental perspective, I think", something. Okay? Now, you don't have

  • to use: "I believe", "I think", "I feel", but you can. All right?

  • "From a social angle, the people need change."

  • "From a psychological standpoint," okay? And then you say whatever you need to say.

  • "From a financial viewpoint," all right?

  • So you see these expressions and words. Right? "Point of view", "perspective", "angle", "standpoint",

  • "viewpoint". I can assure you that if you start speaking using some of these expressions,

  • your English will be much, much improved and you'll sound a lot more intellectual as well.

  • Okay? Also in your writing, also in academic writing. If you happen to be in university,

  • you definitely want to use some of these expressions in your writing. Okay?

  • Another technique you can use is this expression: "Technically speaking," all right? And then

  • you talk about the technology of it.

  • Or: "Philosophically speaking," or: "Professionally speaking," okay? And again, you can take any

  • topic. All right? And express it in that way. When we say: "Technically speaking," or: "Philosophically

  • speaking," it means when we're speaking about the philosophy of it. Okay? Or when we're

  • speaking about it from a professional point of view. Okay? Same idea, different ways of

  • expressing it.

  • Last one is without: "speaking", just saying this word. "Historically," or: "Spiritually,"

  • or: "Educationally," or: "Academically," or: "Personally, I prefer to go to a relaxed movie."

  • Okay? Or "funny movie", "I prefer to go to a funny movie rather than a horror movie."

  • Okay? So, that's how you can use the word: "Personally," right? Or: "Personally speaking," right?

  • So, these are three different ways in which you can discuss anything intelligently or

  • give your opinion on something by providing first a frame of reference for your listener.

  • If you want to have a little more practice in this, please visit our website: www.engvid.com.

  • You'll find a quiz on this, as well as videos on many other topics in English. All right?

  • Thanks for watching. Good luck with your English.

Hi. My name is Rebecca, and in today's lesson, I'm going to show you how to discuss or how

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