English for Social Situations
on October 18, 2017
Being asked out for a date and asking friends to go out for a party are common occurrences. There are easy English phrases you must remember and learn to use in those common social situations.
Asking someone out
Requests or invitation statements always have the word ‘come.’ This is an encouraging word that simply means “join us.”
1) “Come out with us. It will be such great fun! I’m sure you’ll have a good time.”
2) “Come along! We are going to the disco tonight.”
3) “We’re eating at this pizza place, come join us!”
“We’re eating dinner at this Italian restaurant at the lakeside, come join us!”
“We’re eating at this Japanese restaurant across the cinema, come join us!”
4) Do you want to come?
(This is a more gentle way of asking. You ask a nice and natural question.)
“We’re going to the Museum of Natural History, do you want to come?”
When someone invites you
Imagine if someone is inviting you and you don’t really like him or her. You could say:
“No, I’d like to stay in, actually. I need to catch this TV series, and I’ll have a meal. Thanks anyway, see you later.”
(‘I’d like to stay in’ means you don’t want to go out. This is an indirect and polite way of saying you don’t want to go out with that person.)
But, if you like them, you could say:
“Okay, you can call in at my house at, say 4:30 this afternoon.”
(‘call in’ means you come to me / to my place)
“Sure! You can swing by at my apartment in 30 minutes.”
(‘swing by’ means come to my house first)
“Sure! Meet me at the fountain in the City Park at 6PM later after work.”
Social Media posts
“What’s on your mind?” Have you ever wondered how to answer this question that Facebook asks you? I mean, do you want to learn how to answer that in English? Here are a few phrases that will help you.
Note also that you use the present tense if you are using a picture and posting a message about an activity.
1) “Chilling with Kenichi.” (This means taking it easy and having a good time with a person.)
“Relaxing with Carmen.”
2) “A night out with David.”
“A fun day with the kids.”
3) “To catch…” means two things: TALK and GO TO.
TALK
“Catching up with friends.”
(This means that the picture you’re posting shows that you’re meeting friends, you’re having a chat, and hearing about what they’ve been doing.)
GO TO
“Catching a film with Steve.”
“Catching a play with Sophie.”
4) “Burning up the dance floor.”
(This means dancing around and setting the floor “on fire” with your dance moves.)
5) “Grabbing a beer with old buddies from high school.”
“Grabbing a quick meal with officemates.”
Try using these phrases next time when you post on Facebook, or when someone asks you out, or when you want to ask someone out. Try practicing these phrases by writing sentences, and have your LingualBox teacher check your work.
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