That was a great movie, wasn't it?
Hmm... I wasn't so impressed, myself

    In last week's one-point lesson, we looked at these two structures:
    • That was a great movie, wasn't it?
    • Wasn't that a great movie?

    I explained that we can use these structures when we expect our listener to agree with us. Typical exchanges might look like this:

    A: Wasn't that a great movie?
    B: Yeah. Really good, wasn't it?

    A: The acting was really good, wasn't it?
    B: Yeah. I thought Julia Roberts was superb.

    However, let's suppose B does not agree with A about the movie. How would B respond to A in that case?

    Expressing disagreement

    People can disagree in several ways. They can disagree aggressively like this:

    • Great movie! Oh, come on!
    • Oh, come on, you're joking, aren't you?
    • I thought it was garbage.

    If you disagree with people in this way, you must be careful. Good friends can sometimes disagree with each other in qan aggressive way, but sometimes it might cause friction （摩擦）. People would probably get angry, for example, if you said something like 「ばか言わないで」 in Japanese. So, how can you disagree in a gentler way? Let's look at some examples:

    • Hmm... It was OK, I suppose.
    • Well, it wasn't bad, but I've seen better.
    • The beginning was all right, I suppose, but it got a bit boring after that.
    • Hmm... I don't know... I thought the fight scenes were a bit overdone.
    • You think so? I wasn't so impressed with it myself.

    NOTES:
    Here are some hints about the examples above:

    1. Gentle disagreements often begin with a hesitation phrase: Well..., Hmm..., I don't know..., Actually,...
    2. They may also begin by challenging Speaker A and questionning his/her opinion: You think so? Really? Yeah? Remember that these should be said with a rising intonation.
    3. We may begin by partly agreeing and saying something good about the film: The beginning was all right..., it wasn't bad... Statements like these will often be followed by but... plus a disagreement.
    4. Words like suppose or guess are useful for expressing gentle disagreement. We can use phrases like I suppose it was OK, I guess it was all right to make our disagreement seem softer.
    5. The phrase, a bit, is another useful softener: a bit boring, a bit overdone.
    6. We can stress that the disagreement is just our personal opinion: I wasn't so impressed with it, myself. Using myself at the end suggests that this is my opinion and that I may not be right. Another word that can be used in a similar way is personally.

    Exercise

    Imagine that you and your friend have been to see a movie. Your friend thought that everything about the movie was wonderful, but you didn't enjoy it so much. How could you respond to these comments by your friend. Remember - don't get too aggressive and try to use some of the language we have studied in this lesson.

    1. It was a great story, wasn't it?
    2. The theme song was great wasn't it?
    3. Weren't the costumes gorgeous?
    4. Kevin Costner's performance was brilliant, wasn't it?
    5. Wasn't that young actor handsome?
    6. The car chase in the last scene was pretty exciting, wasn't it?

    Answers to the questions will vary but please click here to see some suggestions.

    Click below if you want to try some of my other one-point lessons:
    Bob's One-Point Weekly Lesson Archive

    © Robert E. Jones, 2006