Hi, Tim here with another 9 to 5 English lesson today, we're going to learn how to explain a problem in English.

Much of your work probably involves solving problems, and sometimes we can't do it alone.

But cooperating with someone to solve a problem means explaining it clearly.

Before you explain the problem, however, you'll need to ask for help.

To really useful words in this situation are would and could these words help you make polite requests?

For example, you might say, Could you help me or would you help me with this?

And we can add to these expressions to get longer, even more polite expressions.

Let's practice some ways of asking for help using would and could listen to each example.

Then repeat it for yourself.

Ready?

Let's get started.

Do you think you could give us a hand with this?

Would you mind showing me how to do this?

Could you help me with this?

I would appreciate a bit of help.

As you heard.

We can build a polite sentence around would and could using questions like, Do you think you could end.

Would you mind?

This is much more polite than giving people direct orders like Help me, Please.

Now, if someone agrees to help you, what do you say next?

Do you start describing the problem in great detail?

Or do you think it would be better to say generally what the problem is?

Well, at the start, it's good to be more general.

You can give a short overview of the problem to give the person a general idea of what it's about.

Let's try some examples of giving a general statement about a problem.

Remember to repeat the examples after you hear them.

It looks like there's a safety issue at the factory.

We've got some problems with the website.

I can't seem to get the copier toe work.

The security system isn't working properly.

Did you hear another word that has the same meaning as problem?

The word is issue, as in, there's a safety issue, or you could have a technical issue or a security issue or a staffing issue also notice that a lot of problems are about whether something works.

That just means whether it functions properly now, it's not usually enough just to know that there's a problem.

If we hope to solve it, we usually need to know what happened to cause the problem or make you think there was a problem.

In this case.

You need to tell a little story, and you should use the past tense to describe what happened.

For example, you might say I turned the computer on, but the screen was blank.

Or you might say, X happened when I did why.

And at this point, you should be specific and detailed about what happened.

Let's try some practice with describing what happened using this approach once again, repeat the examples after you hear them.

The problem started when we made changes to the home page, so I tried to save the document to the shared folder.

The machine made a strange noise.

When I turned it on, I opened the program, but I couldn't log in.

Of course, explaining a problem clearly might mean making several sentences like this to describe the situation and with a clear understanding of the situation.

Hopefully, the other person will be able to help you solve it.

Okay, so we've practiced lots of useful examples for talking about problems But how do these expressions sound in a conversation?

Let's listen to a short dialogue between Christie and John.

John is trying to describe a problem with his website to Christie.

Let's listen.

So what seems to be the problem?

It looks like there's an issue with the website.

Oh, no, What's going on?

Well, it started when I updated the home page.

Simple enough, right?

When Christie asks about the problem, John says there's an issue with the website, and when Christie asks for more detail, he explains that it started when he updated the home page.

Now it's your turn to practice.

We'll repeat the dialogue, but this time we're going to be about the second speaker's words.

You will have to say those parts yourself.

Remember to say it looks like there's an issue with the website.

Then say it started when you updated the home page.

So what seems to be the problem?

Oh, no, What's going on?

All right, that's all for this lesson.

We've learned some great ways, toe ask for help, make general statements about a problem and describe what happened.

We'll be back soon with some more useful English expressions.