POLITE ENGLISH: 9 phrases for getting out of trouble

Using the rights words to get yourself out of trouble will help you improve your relationships with your family, friends, and colleagues. In this lesson, we will look at nine phrases to express situations of misunderstanding, miscommunication, and conflict. For example, if your colleagues didn’t understand your instructions, you could say, “Let me put it another way”, before explaining again in other words. Starting your explanation with a polite phrase will show that you care and that you want others to understand your point of view.

Test your knowledge with the quiz at https://www.engvid.com/polite-english-9-phrases-for-getting-out-of-trouble/

NEXT, watch more of my English lessons to improve your English conversation skills and make your vocabulary richer:
1. Learn 18 English PHRASAL VERBS for compliments & criticism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UU2XWjoT9I

2. Giving Excuses: How to say NO in English – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXVR6IL74as

TRANSCRIPT

Hello. Welcome back to engVid. Today's lesson is a conversational lesson. We're looking at phrases to help you get out of trouble. How could this help you? Well, we all have difficult times at work where you need to keep a boss (an employer) happy; or in a domestic situation, you may need to keep your partner happy if they're a little bit peeved - if they're a little bit cross with you. So, here are some phrases that will help you to do just that.

Now, you may remember a video that I did, which was looking at rumours and secrets, and the situation we had in that video was that Lionel Messi had apparently called Cristiano Ronaldo slightly big-headed. So, Cristiano might say: "Lionel, what's going on? What did you mean by that?" And Lionel is going to have to sort of say: "It's okay, Cristiano. What I meant was that you have a healthy self-regard". "A healthy self-regard", let's write that up here. A healthy self-regard. "Healthy" meaning, you know, good for you - not bad; "self", about oneself; "regard", a bit like the French word: "to look". "What I meant was you have a healthy self-regard." So, it was a good thing; not a bad thing.

Cristiano says the same thing: -"Lionel, why did you say that?" -"Well, if I said that, I didn't mean to." So, in this example, Lionel is basically saying: "Yeah. You know what, Cristiano? That's exactly what I said, but I didn't mean to". "Didn't mean to", I mean, this is quite a poor excuse, but it sounds polite, doesn't it? It makes it seem better that Lionel didn't mean to say it. It just... The words just came out of the mouth.

Better this: "Let me put it another way. It's fantastic that you're so confident; it helps you become such a good player." Okay? So, if we say something to a boss or a partner and they don't like the way we say something, we can try another way: "Let me put it another way. You're fantastic." Another way of... So, these two are quite similar, here. "Let me rephrase what I just said..." So, words can be interpreted in a very personal way, and different words make you think different things, so it's really important, the words we do choose. If someone doesn't like the words we have chosen: "Let me rephrase..." So, the prefix: "re" means "again"; "phrase", collection of words. "Let me put that into another phrase; let me rephrase what I just said..." So, I've just said something in the past tense; let me say something again now. Let me... I'm asking permission. "Let me say something again in a better way."

Or we have another option, here, of saying: "No, no, no, no. That's not true at all. That's not what I said at all." Okay? So, Lionel is saying: "No, Cristiano, what I... I did not say that. That's not..." So we have the negative before "what I said". "That's not what I said"-okay?-"at all" just emphasizes it that little bit more. This follows on; it's the same sense that the rumour-the secret-is not true: "I've no idea who told you that, but it's not true. I've no idea who told you that. I've no idea who told you", it's quite a forceful means of expression, that. It's quite emphatic. Okay? It's definitely saying: "This is not true."

So, being British, we always come up with quite polite phrases, as opposed to the Americans/North Americans who might not beat around the bush quite as much. "I'm afraid that" is a slightly politer way of saying the above sentence. "I'm afraid that just isn't true", okay? "Afraid" softens the blow ever so slightly. "I'm afraid that just is not true." Okay.

Another very British phrase: "The fact of the matter is..." Okay? So, you could just say: "The fact is", but we add in: "of the matter", to do with this subject. "The fact of this story... Of this matter... The fact of the matter is I did not call you bigheaded."

So, if the situation is becoming a little bit heated and it's coming into a little bit of an argument, you might just say: "Let's get this straight..." Okay? So, why do we say "straight"? […]

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