Learn different words and phrases to describe feelings and emotions in English.
Express yourself to describe something close to home
In English we have a lot of phrases to say that something is near somewhere.
The examples below speak of 'home' but many phrases can also refer to other places.
- Just next door (to my home).
- Just beside.
- On my street / On the same street as..
- Just up/down the road.
- Not far from (my home).
- Right on my doorstep.
- Just a stone's throw away.
- Just round the corner.
- A two-minute walk from...
- In your neck of the woods
Express yourself when talking about more unusual crimes
As an advanced student, you are no doubt familiar with the names of common crimes, such as murder and robbery. But there are many other crimes that have emerged recently.
Here are some phrases:
- Joy-riding.
- Identity theft.
- Computer phishing.
- Intellectual property violation.
- Fly tipping.
- Unfair dismissal.
- Indecent exposure.
- Cruelty to animals.
- Inciting racial hatred.
- Happy slapping.
Express yourself in English when giving suggestions
We often suggest ideas or things to do. Here are some common examples of watching a movie, you can use structures to talk about other things:
- Why don't we go to the cinema?
- Let's go to the cinema. What do you think?
- How about going to the cinema?
- How do you feel about seeing a film?
- Fancy seeing a film?
- I'd like to see a film. How about you?
- We could always see a film.
- Why not go and see a film?
- Seeing a film's one idea.
- It would be nice to see a film.
Express yourself in English when making a small talk
"Small talk" means about things that aren't really very important, especially with people we don't meet often that you could use at a party.
Here are some phrases:
- You must be Susan's husband!
- How's your wife/friend?
- Nice weather, isn't it?
- What's new?
- I haven't seen you for ages.
- What have you been up to lately?
- Are you still working for the same firm?
- Have you heard from Hoda recently?
- What a coincidence!
- Fancy meeting you here!
Express yourself with the most admired expressions
There are many different phrases people use when they like something.
Here are the most expressive phrases you might hear:
- I'm a big fan of Indian food.
- I'm (absolutely) crazy about it.
- I'm quite partial to spicy things.
- I'm really into it (in a big way).
- You can't beat a good Indian meal.
- Give me Thai food any day.
- I'm particularly fond of hot curries.
- There's nothing I like more than...
- Thai food is what I live for.
- I'm adore .....
Express yourself in the near future
When you want to say that something is going to happen in a short time in the future, English has no particular actual tense. Instead we use one of these phrases:
- It's going to happen (quite / very) soon.
- In (just) a moment/minute…
- In (just) a few minutes…
- Any second/minute/day now,
- Not long now.
- In the near future...
- Before long,
- ...is just around the corner.
- ...will happen in our lifetimes.
Express yourself when talking about the future
We don't know what will happen in the future. But sometimes there are things we don't think will happen, so we're going to use these phrases:
- I don't expect they'll win.
- It's (quite) unlikely they'll win.
- They are not very likely to win.
- I shouldn't think they'll win.
- There's not much hope / chance.
- I'd be (very) surprised if they won.
- I wouldn't bet on them winning.
- There's no chance of them winning.
- There's little likelihood of them winning.
- It'll never happen in a month of Sundays.
Express your habits
There are some activities that are a regular part of our daily life. We have a number of English phrases, to talk about habits.
Here are some phrases:
- I spend a lot of time...
- I (often) tend to...
- You'll always find me...
- ___ is a big part of my life.
- I always make a point of...
- Whenever I get the chance, I...
- I have a habit of...
- I can't (seem to) stop...
- I'm always...
- I can't help...
Express yourself in English when talking about graphs
We often want to talk about things that go up and down at different times, newspapers and reports often display this information on graphs.
Here are some phrases to describe this.
- A sharp increase.
- A steep drop.
- A massive reduction.
- A gradual rise.
- A slight decline.
- A peak.
- A slow-down.
- A spike.
- A steady recovery.
- Fluctuations.
Express yourself when you give your opinion
We often need to give our opinions to friends and colleagues. Here are ways to give your opinion about the choice between the options:
- In my opinion, this one would be better.
- To my mind this one's better.
- If you ask me, this one's better.
- To my way of thinking, this one's fine.
- In my view, this one is best.
- Know what I think? That one's best.
- I'd say that one's better.
- What I think is that one's better.
- For me, that one's better.
- I tell you what I think, that one's best.
Express yourself when giving your opinion as fact
It is very important to show people when you say an opinion and make it clear that it is not a fact of giving an opinion as a fact.
- I reckon...
- I'd say...
- Personally, I think...
- What I reckon is...
- If you ask me...
- The way I see it...
- As far as I'm concerned...
- If you don't mind me saying...
- I'm utterly convinced that...
- In my humble opinion...
Express yourself when given options
Sometimes you want everyone to do something you want, or you want to do something a certain way. But sometimes you are happy to pass it on to others.
Here are ten sentences.
- You choose.
- It's up to you.
- (You can) do what/as you like.
- Do as you please.
- The choice is yours.
- Make up your own mind.
- It's fine by me if you want to...
- It's no skin off my nose.
- It's your decision.
- Don't mind me.
Express yourself in short phrases with "Get"
The word "Get" can covers two or more pages if we will write about it, because there are many phrases made of "Get".
Here are some of it:
- Get ready!
- Get out!/get out of here!
- Get lost!
- Get going!
- Get a move on! / Get moving!
- Get a life!
- Get well soon!
- Get real!
- Get out of my way!
- Get stuffed!
Express yourself when generalizing
There are many phrases in English that we can use when we want to say that something is true most of the time but not all of the time.
Here are some phrases:
- Ninety percent of the time...
- Nine times out of ten...
- More often than not...
- Usually...
- As a rule (of thumb)...
- What normally happens is...
- In general...
- Generally speaking...
- On the whole...
- By and large...
Express yourself when you forget things
Sometimes, we can't remember things from the past, and sometimes we forget to do important things in the present.
We can use these phrases for these cases:
- (I'm afraid) I can't remember.
- I've completely forgotten.
- My mind's gone blank.
- (Sorry) I have no memory of...
- (I'm afraid) it doesn't ring a bell.
- I have no recollection of...
- Sorry, I forgot.
- I simply forgot to do it.
- What was I thinking of?
- Oh no, it completely slipped my mind.
Express yourself with repeated expressions
There are many slang phrases in English that repeat words. Unfortunately, Microsoft Word's spell checker recognizes any of them and treats them all as errors.
- Tut tut: To express disapproval or annoyance.
- Now now: Used as an expression of mild remembrance.
- Knock knock: To describe the sound made when you knock on the door.
- Chop chop: Used to hurry someone.
- Hear hear: Used to express one's honest agreement with what has been said.
- Aye aye: Indicates that the request has been received, understood and will be executed immediately.
- There there: Something you say to calm someone down, especially a baby.
- So-so: Between average quality and low quality
- Fifty-fifty: Dividing half by half in a share or percentage.
- Well well: Refer to contemplation or consideration, It is often mockery or fake surprise.