Lesson summary
Video transcript
What’s up guys? My name is Shane and today we are looking at the 10 most liked posts from English Understood’s Instagram in 2020.
We started this page in July of 2020 and let’s just say that our first posts weren’t very clean and tidy. But over the past 6 months, we have made them much better and in 2021, we hope to make them even better as well.
Okay, let’s not waste any more time. Let’s look at the first post.
Coming in at tenth place was the post called conversation starters.
Now this was a really good post because sometimes you want to have a conversation with someone but you’re just not sure how to start the conversation. So in this post, we posted 6 different phrases that you can use to start a conversation with someone.
Number one. Done anything exciting recently?
Number two. How was your weekend?
Number three. Big plans for the weekend? So, are you doing anything exciting this weekend?
Number four. Been busy today?
Number five. Did you hear about … ? This phrase can be used when you want to talk about something that you’ve seen or heard. Maybe it could be a news article. Did you hear about the news last night?
And the last one was what’s new?
Coming in at ninth place was the post called stop saying very good because very good is a bit of a boring phrase. There are many words and phrases in English that are more interesting, more exciting than just saying very good.
So in this post, we looked at a few different ways that you can say very good with different words or different phrases.
The first one is great. And the example was: how are you today? I’m great.
The second one. Perfect. The example was: you have a perfect accent.
Number three. Wonderful. The example was: did you know he’s getting married? No! That’s wonderful!
Number four. Fantastic. The example was: how was the food? It was fantastic!
Number five. Amazing. The example was: did you enjoy the concert? Yes. It was amazing!
Number six. Terrific. His terrific answer on the exam got him a really high score.
So try out these phrases next time you want to say very good.
And coming in at eighth place was the post called furniture vocabulary. Now this was a very good post because it contained a lot of vocabulary that you might not have seen before.
Number one. Couch or sofa.
Number two. Mattress.
Number three. Bunk bed.
Number four. Desk.
Number five. Chest of drawers.
Number six. Dressing table.
And number seven. A crib.
And coming in at number seven was also another vocabulary post. It was called vocabulary in the house. Now this was also another very popular post because it contained a lot of new vocabulary for students. Let’s have a quick look at it now.
Number one. Cutlery.
Number two. A photo or picture frame.
Number three. A coat hanger.
Number four. A clothes basket.
Number five. Tongs.
Number six. A Screen.
And number seven. A switch.
Coming in at number six was the post called different ways to say you’re welcome. This was also another very good post because you’re welcome is a phrase that might not be suitable in many situations. So in this post we looked at many different ways that you can say you’re welcome.
The first one was don’t mention it. Don’t mention it.
Number two. No worries.
Number three. Not a problem.
Number four. My pleasure.
Number five. It was nothing.
Number six. Anytime.
And number seven. No problem.
These are all really good phrases that you can use instead of you’re welcome.
And coming in at fifth place was the post called basic questions and answers. This is a really good post because English is not hard. English has patterns. For example, there are many phrases that native speakers will use all the time.
And if you know the answers to these questions or how to answer them like a native speaker, you won’t have any problems speaking English and communicating with native speakers.
The first question we looked at was what do you do? Now some common answers to this one are: I’m a doctor or I work in a bank.
Now just be careful with this one. What do you do does not mean what are you doing. What are you doing means right now. So for example, ‘Shane what are you doing?’ I am taking a YouTube video. But what do you do normally talks about your job. So just be careful of that.
Number two. Are you married? Some common answers to this could be: yes I am. I’ve been married for five, ten, twenty years. Or another common answer could be: no I’m not.
Number three. Why are you studying English? Some example answers could be: I want to get a better job. Or well, I think it’s a really interesting language.
Number four. How did you learn English? Some example answers could be: I taught myself. I learned at school or it was my major at university. Just be careful with this one. The question is how did you learn English so this is talking about the past. So when you answer this, normally you have to use a past tense verb.
Number five. What do you do in your free time? Some example answers could be: I like going to the beach or I love listening to music and hanging out with my friends.
Normally when we answer these questions, we say I like plus verb ing. I like going. I like listening. I like hanging.
But you can also say I like plus to plus verb 1. So you could say: I like to go to the beach or I love to listen to music and to hang out with my friends.
But for me, I think it’s easier if you say I like plus ing. I like going. I love listening.
And number six. How’s the weather today? Some example answers could be: well, it’s a bit hot but it’s not too bad or it’s pretty cold today. And the last one.
Number seven. What time is it? Some example answers could be it’s five pm. Not sure, let me check or sorry, I don’t know.
Just be careful when you’re answering this question if you know the time, you normally start by saying it’s. It’s five pm. It’s ten pm. It’s six thirty. Don’t say it. You need to have that apostrophe s. It’s.
And coming in at fourth place was the post called different ways to say thank you. Now this is a really good post because sometimes there are better and more informal or more formal ways to say thank you.
The first way that we looked at in this post was thanks. This is quite informal. Thanks.
Number two. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate it.
Number three. I owe you one. This means you feel like because did something for you, you want to do something for them. I owe you one.
Number four. I can’t thank you enough. I can’t thank you enough.
Number five. I’m so grateful for … whatever you’re grateful for.
Number six. Thank you for your assistance with … and then you say what that person helped you with. This is a more formal phrase.
Number seven. I’d like to express my appreciation for … And then you say what you appreciate. But just be careful with this one. Normally when we say for, we use a verb ing after. So for example, you could say: I’d like to express my appreciation for working so hard yesterday.
And coming in at third place was the post called among and between. Now this, these two words are very confusing for students learning English but once you understand the feeling, the meaning of the words, they’re actually quite easy.
So let’s look at the first page of this post. Among normally means surrounded by other things. So if something is here and there are things around it, this thing is among these things.
And on the post we have an example. I saw many faces I knew among the crowd. Another example was: he’s among the trees. He is here and the trees are surrounding him. They are around him.
Now the word between means in the space that separates two objects. So for example, we have some books here. We have a laptop here. Here is between the books and the laptop. There is a space here and there are two things on either side.
And an example that we used was: she is between the two houses. The two houses are here and she is in the middle. She is between them. We also used another example: the car is between the house and the truck.
Coming in at second place was the post called common mistakes. Now I think this one was very popular because I think that language learners love to learn about the mistakes that they are making when they are learning a new language so they can speak better and correctly.
Now the first mistake in this post was: I have a good news. But it should be I have good news. No a. We don’t use a because news is an uncountable noun. And when we have an uncountable noun, we don’t, we normally don’t use a or an.
The second one. She’s so beautiful girl. But it should be she’s such a beautiful girl.
Number three. It was on accident. No. It should be it was by accident.
Number four. He’s married with Jane but it should be he’s married to Jane. When we talk about marriage, we normally say to. She is married to John. He is married to Mary.
Number five. I can doing it. It should be I can do it. After can, we just need verb 1. A present tense verb. We don’t need to use ing.
Number six. In the bedroom has two chairs but the correct way to say this is the bedroom has two chairs. Have two pens there. But the correct way to say this should be there are two pens. There are two pens.
Normally when we want to say something exists in the world, we either start with there are or there is. So here, there are two pens. If there was just one pen, we would say there is a pen. There is a pen.
And coming in at first place. The most liked post from English Understood’s Instagram in 2020 was a post called different ways to say happy birthday.
Now, I am very surprised at this because I thought that common mistakes would be more popular than different ways to say happy birthday. But that’s okay, let’s have a quick look at some different ways we can say happy birthday.
Number one. Have a great birthday.
Number two. I wish you a wonderful birthday.
Number three. I wish you all the best on your special day.
Number four. I hope you have a fantastic day and a fantastic year to come.
Number five. All the best on your birthday and I hope all your wishes come true.
Number six. Congratulations for surviving another year. This is a bit of a funny one.
Number seven. Wishing you a day that is as special as you are. Now as you can see in the post, there is a little note down the bottom and it says that this phrase is normally used between men and women. Normally it’s not used between a man and another man.
Okay and that is the end of the video today. Thank you so much for watching. Comment down below and let us know what do you think about the new English Understood studio? Do you like the table? Do you like the plant? Do you like the laptop? Comment down below.
Also, give this video a like if you like the style of this video where we look back at older posts and discuss them in a bit more detail. And if you haven’t subscribed already, make sure you subscribe right now because next week we’ll be releasing a video about the best videos from our Tik Tok page. And you don’t want to miss that.
Also, if you haven’t followed our Instagram page, make sure you follow that right now because we have daily quizzes, weekly updates, posts, videos and much much more. And I will see you in the next video. See you guys! Number six. In the bedroom has, two, …. And coming in at second …
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