Today you’ll learn about one unique American speech habit that you can use to introduce ideas or to share quotes.
In English we use “like” in a few different ways.
- It can be a filler word. “So, like, what are you doing tonight?”
- It can be used to say “such as.” I enjoy foods like sushi.
- It can be used to report an idea or something that you said. “I was like, ‘wow, we should take some time off.’”
Today we are going to focus on the third way that “like” is used when we use it to report what we said or what we thought in a past conversation.
In the episode Lindsay and Michelle used this expression in a few different ways. Listen to the episode to get the details!
To talk about something that was said in the past:
- “I was like ‘wow, I gotta check that out.’”
- “My mom heard the story and she was like, ‘oh yeah just take my car.’”
To tell a story that happened in the past using the present tense to pull people into the story and to hold their attention:
- “On Saturday we’re hiking and we get to the top and it’s cloudy. My friend is like, ‘let’s just wait and see if the clouds clear’ and within a few minutes the clouds did clear.
Have you heard Americans use “like” in this way in English conversations?
Have you tried using it yourself?
Let us know in the comments below.
