If you don’t understand where they stand, highlight what you heard and confirm with the speaker
So in the end, you still don’t know their opinion. Sometimes, a person may respond to a question and discuss several details without clearly stating their opinion. Scenario #1 : When Someone’s Opinion Isn’t Clear In each scenario, you’ll learn effective strategies with example questions to help you steer the conversation successfully. When you’re unfamiliar with the topic or words used.When the speaker’s thoughts are not connected.To help, let’s look at 4 common scenarios when we might start to get lost in the conversation: When that happens, the best course of action is to ask clarifying questions to successfully keep the conversation moving forward.Īnd that’s what you’ll learn to do today with this lesson on 13 Ways to Clarify When You Don’t Understand Someone.īy the end, you will be able to confidently ask for clarification AND gain a clearer understanding of the speaker’s opinion so you’re fully engaged with the conversation. Likewise, there are many reasons we may feel lost. In any conversation, there are a variety of reasons why we may not understand someone’s opinion. Or I could take a risk and ask a clarifying question. I could stay silent and lose an opportunity to learn. And I was utterly lost.Īt that point, I had a choice. Native speakers also get confused about this and they always ask to make sure there is not a misunderstanding.Recently I was in a conversation with one of my students about genomes and DNA. The most important thing to learn from today is don’t be afraid to ask questions to clarify! It’s Wednesday March 15th and I say “what are you up to next weekend?” I am mostly likely asking about the following one which would be March 25/26 but you should check by saying, “(Do) You mean this coming weekend or the one after?”.It’s Wednesday March 15th and I say “what are you up to this weekend?” I am probably talking about March 18/19.
It’s Wednesday March 15th and I say “hey what did you do last weekend?”I am probably asking about March 11th/March 12th.If you want to be sure you can say “ O h do you mean just this past weekend?” It’s Monday March 13th and I say to you: A: Hey what did you do last weekend? This could mean this past weekend March 11/March 12 but it could also mean “last” weekend March 4th/ March 5th but it probably means the closest one back.Last weekend: Keep in mind rule of thumb, where are you in the week? When are you having the conversation?.*Bonus- if you want to make sure it’s clear that “this” is the future you can say “this coming Thursday” and that would be as opposed to “next Thursday or last Thursday.”.If today is Friday March 24th then “this Thursday” if your sentence is in the past tense (sometimes “this” could refer to a day in the past) is Thursday March 23rd and “last Thursday”is Thursday March 16.For example, if it’s Tuesday March 14 then the closest Thursday March 16 would be called “this Thursday” NOT “next Thursday” because “next Thursday” would be Thursday March 23rd. Next Thursday, next Monday: Usually two Mondays ahead.Learn to speak naturally with the American accent.Ĭlick here to save 50% and subscribe to future transcripts! Get the transcripts from today’s episode. Make sure you understand every word you hear on All Ears English.īring your English to the advanced level with new vocabulary and natural expressions. Let’s start with a rule of thumb: It always depends on where you currently are in the week. He said yes, that’s right and he said that it’s a bit different in Brazil, his country. We were firming up our plans to meet on Thursday March 9th and his closing remark was “okay! See you next Thursday!” and I said WAIT! You mean THIS Thursday right? Thursday March 9th (3 days from now). I was emailing with him and making plans to meet online to speak. Today’s episode is inspired by one of our lovely listeners.
This is a confusing point even for native speakers sometimes. Do you ever want to ask your native English speaking colleagues what they did over the weekend or what they did last weekend?ĭo you sometimes get confused whether you should say “next weekend” or “this weekend” or “last weekend”?
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