FUNCTIONS:

Agreeing

Disagreeing

Hesitating

Introducing your opinion

Asking for opinions

Expressing preferences

Asking for clarification

Expressing likelihood

Speculating, guessing

Advice and recommendations

Describing a picture

Agreeing

I think you’re right

I would go along with the idea

I completely agree with you

That makes perfect sense

You have a point there

Absolutely, that’s spot on!

I couldn’t agree more

Disagreeing

That’s not how I see it

I couldn’t agree less

You must be kidding

That’s a ridiculous idea, don’t you think?

With all due respect, I must disagree

I’m afraid I can’t see it that way

No way, that’s nonsense!

Hesitating

I’m in two minds about it

I have some reservations regarding that

I’m not entirely convinced

There’s something that gives me pause

While I’m not entirely opposed, I do have some doubts

Introducing your opinion

To my mind

I reckon

In my opinion

As I see it

It seems to me

I would argue

From my point of view

Asking for opinions

Don’t you think …?

What’s your attitude to …?

What’s your opinion of …?

Are you in favour of …?

What’s your position as regards …?

You don’t support …, do you?

Expressing preferences

I prefer…

I would rather…

My preference would be…

I tend to favour…

If I had to choose, I would…

I lean towards…

I am inclined to…

Giving reasons

Asking for clarification

Could you please elaborate on that?

Would you mind explaining that further?

I’m not quite sure I understand. Could you clarify?

Could you provide more details?

Can you expand on that point?

Expressing likelihood

“It’s a foregone conclusion that…”

“There’s no doubt in my mind that…”

“I am almost certain that…”

“It’s highly likely that…”

“Chances are that…”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if…”

“It’s possible that…”

“There’s a chance that…”

“It’s unlikely that…”

“I doubt that…”

Speculating, guessing

“It seems to me that…”

“My gut feeling is that…”

“From what I gather…”

“If I were to guess…”

“It would appear that…”

“I reckon that…”

“I suspect that…”

“In all likelihood…”

“There’s a distinct possibility that…”

“It’s plausible that…”

Advice and recommendations

“You might want to consider…”

“Perhaps you could try…”

“If I were you, I would…”

“One thing you could do is…”

“Have you thought of…”

“May I suggest…”

“It might be beneficial to…”

“Consider this approach…”

“Why not give this a go…”

“If it were up to me, I’d…”

Describing a picture

“In the foreground…”

“In the background…”

“In the center of the image…”

“On the left side of the picture…”

“On the right side of the picture…”

“At the top of the picture…”

“At the bottom of the picture…”

“The picture depicts…”

“The image illustrates…”

“The photograph shows…”

“One can see…”

“Notice how…”

“This scene captures…”

“This photograph highlights…”

DICTIONARY

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ADVANCED SEARCH

You can filter lessons by titles, categories, tags, or levels.

wdt_ID TITLE CATEGORY TAGS LEVEL LINK
1Why we sleepHealth and fitnessCEF C1 | health | lifestyle | sleepC1
26 Elevator Speeches by Daniel PinkBetter communicatorCEF B1 | Daniel Pink | elevator pitch | persuasion | presentingB1
3Business Social English Test - part 1Tests and Quizzesbusiness English | CEF A2 | everyday English | social English | testA2
4David BowieWise Quotesartists | CEF B2 | David Bowie | development | lifeB2
5Should You Learn British or American English?CultureAmerican English | British English | CEF B1 | dialects | different accents | how to learnB1
TITLECATEGORYTAGSLEVEL

LIST OF CATEGORIES

There are 20 main categories, or subjects, of lessons on The Blue Tree. First five are about the English language, the next ten are about general interest, and last five relate to personal development. 

Learn more words

Learn more
words

Business English

Business
English

English grammar

English
grammar

Everyday English

Everyday
English

Tests and Quizzes

Test &
quizzes

Science stuff

Science
stuff

Culture

Culture

Entertain Yourself

Entertain
Yourself

Health and fitness

Health &
fitness

Wise Quotes

Wise
quotes

Surprise me

Surprise
me

The Arts

The Arts

Travelling and nature

Travel &
Nature

What do you think

What do 
you think

Man and
Society

Personal Productivity

Personal
productivity

Better Communicator

Better
communicator

Better Writer

Better
writer

How to learn

How to
learn

Learn from TED.com

Learn
from TED

MY ENGLISH DICTIONARY

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chronological catalogue

Browse through all the lessons using this chronological catalogue of lessons. 

The Art of Balancing Stones

The Art of Balancing Stones

Czy słyszałeś kiedyś o czymś takim jak ustawianie kamieni? Jak dowiesz się z tej lekcji, to naprawdę trudna, ale i piękna, forma sztuki.

Pinkcast. The Drucker Memo

Pinkcast. The Drucker Memo

Learn how Drucker Memo can help you make better decisions. This lesson is based on Daniel Pink’s video.

When by Daniel Pink

When by Daniel Pink

Learn when to do your most important work taking account your circadian rhythm. This lesson is based on a whiteboard animation about Daniel Pink’s book “When”.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Learn how to make your habits stick by making them obvious, easy, attractive and satisfying. This lesson is based on James Clear’s book Atomic Habits.

Briefing the big boss

Briefing the big boss

Do you feel a bit intimidated when you have to go to the big boss’s office? Learn how to brief the big boss in this lesson based on HBR Management Tip.

WILL Book Trailer

WILL Book Trailer

Who is your favourite actor? I like Will Smith a lot. Here’s a lesson about his new book.

Talking about presents

Talking about presents

Let’s talk about presents. If you are like me, you probably like receiving them, don’t you? Or maybe you prefer to be the one giving gifts?

Would you like to be famous

Would you like to be famous

Would you like to be famous? And what exactly is it like to be famous? Watch Will Smith answer a very deep question about fame.

MY ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Add new and interesting words from this lesson to your English dictionary.

Store your words and expressions in this handy dictionary. You can create groups and play games based on your entries. There is also a practical importing feature.

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