Welcome to today's live English lesson here on the Speak English with Vanessa YouTube

channel.

I'm Vanessa, and today we're going to be talking about using advanced sentence structure specifically

to ask polite questions.

So, I hope that today you'll be able to use this English concept and as you have conversations,

hopefully you're having English conversations, you'll be able to use this spontaneously and

naturally and you'll be able to speak advanced English.

This is a live English lessons, so if you're joining me live, thanks so much.

I have live lessons occasionally.

There's always a new lesson here on my YouTube channel every Friday.

Sometimes it's a live lesson, sometimes it's not, but thanks everyone for joining me from

Mexico, Tanzania, Hungary, Argentina, Kashmir.

Thank you so much for taking time today to join me.

We're going to be talking about the sentence structure "would you rather" in order to introduce

another idea.

Because if you don't like someone's idea, you don't want to say, "No, no, no.

I don't want to do that.

Instead, you want to politely suggest something else.

So, we're going to be talking about this and playing a little game.

Have you ever heard of the 1960s TV show The Newlywed Game?

This was a game show that I think is the longest-running game show that started in the 1960s and it

featured a newly married couple.

The game show host asked the couple some questions to see how well they knew each other.

So today, I'd like to ask you some of these questions, specifically with the sentence

structure "would you rather".

I'm going to answer these questions.

I'm going to give you some samples, but I want you to try to write an answer to the

three questions we're going to talk about today and try to use English.

It's great if I'm using it, but it's even better if you're using it.

That's how you're going to improve.

And if you enjoyed this kind of game show style lesson, you can join me for even more

of this game show style because in September 2018, which is coming in one day ... It's

tomorrow.

Wow.

Starting tomorrow, September first in 2018, the lesson set for the Fearless Fluency Club

is about this game show idea.

I was the host, and I interviewed my sister and brother-in-law and I asked them some of

these newly wed questions to see how well they knew each other.

Some of them they got correct, some of them they didn't get correct.

It's just a great way to have a conversation and to expand your listening skills and your

knowledge.

So if you'd like to join me this month in the Fearless Fluency Club, you'll be able

to continue to learn with this model.

There's a link in the description.

Make sure that you use the coupon code new so that you can get the first month for $5.

This is a $30 discount because usually each month is $35.

All right.

Are you ready to start with the first question?

My first question, I want you to write this question in the comments.

My first question is, would you rather ... Make sure that you spell that correctly.

R-A-T-H-E-R.

Would you rather live in a cold climate or a warm climate?

Here we're using this great vocabulary word, climate.

It just means the temperature of the area where you live.

A cold climate might be like Canada, or Finland, or maybe Russia, or maybe a northern area

in your country.

Would you rather live in a cold climate, it's cold most of the time, or would you rather

live in a warm climate?

It's warm most of the time, usually in the south of your country.

Now, let's make sure that you're answering this question with the correct grammatical

structure.

Make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."

If you say simply warm, okay, I understand what you mean, but you're not expanding your

advanced grammatical structures.

So, make sure that you say, "I would rather live in a warm climate."

If you could write this in the chat box, that would be great so that other people can see

this full sentence and also learn with you.

So you could say, "I would rather live in a cold climate," or you can be even more natural

and you can say I'd, "I'd rather live in a warm climate."

Here we're making a contraction.

I would becomes I'd.

I'd rather live in a warm climate.

Now, in the game show, they asked one partner this question and then they said, "What do

you think your wife will say to this question?"

And they had to guess for each other.

Here, we don't have that kind of situation.

If you'd like to see more of that game show style, you can join the course and see the

game show situation.

But, this is a great way to just ask and answer in a polite way.

I'd rather live in a warm climate.

That's true for me.

I'm not a big fan of winter.

It's not really my favorite season.

I like fall, but if I lived in a place that had cold weather for the majority of the time,

I think I'd be a little blue.

I'd probably get sad pretty easily.

And I just like wearing short sleeve clothes, and being freer, and not having to be bundled

up all the time.

Bundled up is a great phrasal verb.

That means you're wearing a lot of clothes.

All right.

Let's move on to the second would-you-rather question.

This one is a little crazier, so turn up the crazy a little bit.

It is, would you rather like to have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck?

This one's a little crazy, but it's a fun hypothetical idea.

Hypothetical means that it's not realistic.

You can't really have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like a duck.

So here, let me quickly explain these vocabulary words that I used.

A tail, you probably know what that is, the tail of a monkey.

But also webbed feet, W-E-B-B-E-D, webbed feet.

When a duck swims, it doesn't have hands, it has webs between.

It's kind of like its fingers so it can swim more easily.

So, I want to know for you, would you rather have a tail like a monkey or webbed feet like

a duck?

What would you answer in a polite way?

How could you make a full sentence?

You could say, and this is the answer for me, "I'd rather ... " I made the contraction.

"I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because I could swim fast.

That would be amazing, and I could hide it a little bit easier when I'm in public, so

it's a little bit less embarrassing."

We could make a negative sentence.

I talked about what I'd rather have.

I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.

But what if I want to talk about the opposite one?

Can you make a sentence talking about the opposite choice, the one that you don't want?

How could we make this sentence negative?

You might say, "I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey."

We're simply adding the word not.

I'd rather not.

Great.

This is a simple way.

So, I want to know for you, can you make a negative sentence talking about the choice

that you didn't want?

This is a good challenge to try to make a positive sentence and also a negative sentence.

I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey because it would be kind of difficult to hide and

maybe it'd be a little bit more socially embarrassing or awkward, and I think it would be less useful.

So in my quick explanation, I used a lot of hypothetical words.

I said, "It would be less useful."

I used would to talk about a situation that's not real.

I'm imagining it would be less useful.

It wouldn't be as helpful.

It would be more socially embarrassing.

I'm using would to talk about something hypothetical.

I'd like to challenge you, if you would like to have a conversation with another friend

or someone else in English, take some of these would-you-rather questions.

You can find plenty of other questions on the internet.

Just type "would you rather questions" and ask each other, or even ask yourself, and

try to write an answer.

Say it out loud and use this advanced grammatical structure.

I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck.

I'd rather not have a tail like a monkey.

This is going to help you to use the structure as much as you can.

And it's kind of funny, especially if you give some explanations.

I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because ... Using the word because just makes it easier

to continue your sentence and make it more complex.

You could say webbed feet, simple answer, no explanation, but really, that's not helping

you improve too much so you can say a full sentence.

I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck, but you could make it even better if you say,

"I'd rather have webbed feet like a duck because," and then you give an explanation.

Do you see how you can build on the base of the sentence?

Your answer is the base of the sentence, webbed feet like a duck, and then you're expanding

on that to make your sentence more complex.

Because I'm sure for you, you've learned a lot of grammatical structures, but maybe you

don't always use them.

So when you expand your sentences like this, you're giving yourself the chance to use them

and remember that.

Okay, let's go to the third question.

The third question is a little bit less crazy, but it's a beautiful thought.

I want to know, and please write this question in the comment so that other people can see

the question, would you rather instantly become fluent in English, instantly, or would you

rather instantly get $1,000?

This is US dollars.

Would you rather instantly speak English fluently or instantly have $1,000?

I'm curious what your answer for this would be.

For me, it's a little bit different because English is my native language, but if I chose

another language, let's say Portuguese, would I rather instantly speak Portuguese fluently

or have $1,000?

I think I would choose Portuguese.

I'd rather instantly speak another language fluently than have $1,000.

For me, the skill of speaking another language is worth $1,000.

It's worth more than $1,000 to me.

Maybe for you it's different.

Maybe for you your English level is high enough that $1,000 would be more useful to you or

maybe more helpful for you.

A lot of you said, "I'd rather speak English fluently."

So, let me give you a quick way that you can expand this sentence.

I just used it a moment ago when you want to include both answers in your sentence.

I'd rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.

We're using the word than, T-H-A-N, not T-H-E-N, T-H-A-N.

Here you're saying the thing that you want and then you're contrasting it with the thing

that you don't want.

I'd rather have ... I'd rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.

Beautiful.

This is another option.

The first option was you can just add because.

I'd rather speak English fluently because it's my dream.

It's my love.

It will help me get a better job.

Great.

This is just adding because, but you could also contrast it with the other answer, I'd

rather speak English fluently than have $1,000.

Beautiful.

This is a great way to use I'd rather in a polite way.

I'd like to give you a quick final scenario when this might be used in daily conversation.

So let's imagine that you are visiting London.

I hope that you get that opportunity.

It's a really cool place.

It's not where I'm from.

I'm from the US.

I live in the south east, but I have visited London several times.

Let's imagine that you are in London with your best friend and you're trying to decide

where you should go for dinner and your friends suggests, "Let's go to this Indian place."

Indian food is amazing in London, so your friend says, "I'd rather ... " or, "I'd like

to go to the Indian place," but you're not really feeling like you want to have Indian

food.

So, how can you politely suggest that you want something else?

Well, you could use our phrase of the day.

You could say, "Well, I think I'd rather have fish and chips.

I'd rather have this classic English dish."

I'd rather, plus the verb, I'd rather go to the pub.

I'd rather have fish and chips.

This is so polite, and you're just giving another option.

You're not saying, "No, I don't want to eat Indian food.

That's a silly idea."

You're not being rude.