65 Useful Phrases for Expressing Opinions in English
You have lots of wonderful opinions, but you don’t know how to say them?
That’s got to change. After all, an opinion is a personal belief based on your thoughts, feelings and experiences. It’s your individual perspective—your unique view of the world. Because of this, stating your opinion is an important skill to have in English.
In this post, I’m going to teach you exactly how to express your opinion, make your opinion stronger, explain your opinion, conclude your opinion and lastly, ask someone else about their opinion. And I’ll include a list of useful English phrases to use to accomplish these goals.
Contents
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Phrases for Expressing Your Opinion
Expressing your opinion is important, especially with friends and colleagues. To do so easily, check out this list of functional phrases:
- In my opinion…
- From my perspective…
- Personally, I believe…
- I feel that…
- It seems to me that…
- I am of the view that…
- As far as I’m concerned…
- I’m inclined to think that…
- If you ask me…
- I hold the opinion that…
- It’s my belief that…
This phrase is slightly formal and is used more in writing or debating.
This is formal and is usually reserved for professional settings.
This phrase is good for expressing a very long held belief.
This is a good casual phrase to use with friends and family.
This phrase can be used for larger opinions, say, your feelings on marriage or some other big issue.
This is a good phrase to use to clarify your opinion further.
Making your statement stronger
You can make your opinion statement stronger by adding adverbs such as: really, truly, strongly, absolutely, completely, utterly, totally, unquestionably, certainly, fully, unarguably and decidedly.
Here are a couple of examples:
- I truly believe that the American Dream is at risk.
- I feel strongly that all men deserve universal healthcare.
- I really like this movie.
Phrases For Agreeing With Someone’s Opinion
Sometimes, two or more people have the same opinion. In such cases, this is how you express your agreement with them.
- Yes, definitely!
- I feel the same way.
- I agree with you.
- That’s a very valid point.
- I think what you said is true.
- You’re right!
Phrases for Disagreeing With Someone’s Opinion
There may be situations when you disagree with someone on certain topics.
That’s when you have to politely express your disagreement while avoiding an argument or fight.
You have to make the listener realize that while you heard and understood what they said, you don’t agree and have a different opinion.
- I understand.
- I see your point.
- That makes sense.
- I couldn’t agree more.
- You’ve got a good point there.
- I’m on the same page as you.
- Let’s agree to disagree, shall we?
This last funny phrase means that you feel that you and the person you’re talking to are never going to agree on this issue, so you decide to move on to another subject. You’re agreeing that you disagree on the issue. It’s a good phrase to use to avoid an argument.
Phrases for Explaining Your Opinion
In several situations, such as in meetings and group discussions, we’re asked to explain our opinions. There are many ways of doing this.
We can simply state or list our reasons (firstly, secondly, thirdly) in a certain way, like in this example:
Firstly, horror movies are scary. Secondly, I don’t believe in ghosts. Thirdly, I can’t sleep after watching scary movies!
You can also use conjunctions (such as because) or other connecting words and phrases to explain thoughts in a logical manner.
Phrases for Concluding Your Opinion
After you’ve stated an opinion, you may want to conclude the topic.
You can do that using these phrases:
Asking a question is a great way to wrap up your own argument.
Asking for Someone’s Opinion
It’s important to ask others’ opinions, too.
You can use these handy phrases to easily do that:
- What do you think about…?
- How do you feel about…?
- What is your opinion on…?
- In your view, is…?
- What are your thoughts on…?
- Could you share your perspective on…?
- Do you have any views on…?
- What is your take on…?
- Would you mind telling me your opinion about…?
- What is your stance on…?
- Can you give me your impression of…?
- What do you believe about…?
- Are you of the opinion that…?
- Do you think that…?
- How would you evaluate…?
Tips for Expressing Your Opinion in English
Before diving into common phrases, here are some tips that’ll help you express your opinion in English as well as improve your speaking and writing skills.
- Keep a diary to talk about your feelings/opinions. Make it a point to write in your diary every day. You can write about what you did that day, your likes and dislikes or use specific prompts to give you ideas.
- Practice listening to other people’s opinions through videos. By watching how other people express their opinions, you’re able to learn different phrases and words to include in your own to better formulate your thoughts.
There are different resources available to find videos like these. For example, the FluentU program has English videos with interactive captions.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
- Watch an English movie and write about it. You can talk about what you liked and disliked about the movie in your diary!
- Pick a topic and try talking about it. You can practice expressing your opinion by choosing a topic, setting a timer and speaking about it in front of the mirror. Notice your tone and body language. You can also have discussions or “debates” with your friends. A debate is two or more people agreeing or disagreeing with a topic. You can also find online language partners on apps like HelloTalk or Tandem.
Well, I hope that made the art of expressing your opinions in English much easier and clearer than before!
You can always follow the three-step guide and practice the common phrases we use when sharing our thoughts and beliefs.
Of course, you’ll make mistakes and that’s an important part of learning. So get some practice, be sincere and try your best. Before you know it, you’ll be a confident and fluent English speaker!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you like learning English through movies and online media, you should also check out FluentU. FluentU lets you learn English from popular talk shows, catchy music videos and funny commercials, as you can see here:
If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.
The FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos. There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition, and useful examples.
FluentU lets you learn engaging content with world famous celebrities.
For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:
FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.
The best part? FluentU remembers the vocabulary that you’re learning. It gives you extra practice with difficult words—and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a truly personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
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