This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2035.
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We'll show you how to become a fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection, with your American hosts, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
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In English, you are not exactly limited to using words in a straightforward way.
Today you'll learn three phrases that will add interest and color to your conversation when you describe your perspective on things.
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Hello, Aubrey.
How's it going today?
How are you feeling?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you?
I'm good.
I'm happy to be on the mic, but I do have a question for you.
Okay.
All right.
So do you have an empty schedule today?
Not much going on or what's the deal?
Not exactly.
I'm actually super busy.
I've got so much going on all day.
My kids are in like summer camp until one.
So I cram everything I can into the day until they get home.
And then I try to spend lots of time with them.
So summer days are busy around here.
Busy.
Okay.
All right.
Good to know.
Good to know.
So not exactly everything.
Empty, right?
Not exactly leisurely time where you can do whatever you want, right?
Exactly.
And you guys might be noticing this phrase, not exactly.
This came up in a recent episode.
We wanted to highlight it today and a couple of similar expressions.
We use this all the time.
It's such a great way to respond.
It was kind of fun and playful a little bit.
But yeah, so this is going to be a good one.
We're going to get into this.
This is, it's just such common english, but for our listeners.
First aubrey, i want to remind them about the all ears english app.
We have it now for android and ios, so literally anyone who's using those two operating systems can use this app.
Guys, you can get it at all ears englishcom app.
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So we show you the transcripts of all the episodes right there in the app and you can tap on words that you want to remember and learn and save them to your power list.
So go for it.
Awesome.
Guys, go to allersenglish.com app to check it out today.
It is the best way to listen to the Allers English podcast.
Love it.
Okay.
So let's get into this not exactly.
Yeah.
This came up in a very recent episode.
We were recording 2034 and we were sharing phrases for describing someone as very clean and tidy and neat.
We're saying like, They're not exactly a neat freak.
And we both were like oh, this would be a great upcoming episode, to use that not exactly and similar phrases.
So, if you missed it, be sure to check out episode 2034 and follow the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode.
Yeah, this is a very natural English skill.
Guys, this is a 99 fluency skill, because a way of saying that something is something by saying it's not something.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Give some examples here.
Yeah.
Here's what's tricky about not exactly is it does have two different meanings.
And so, the more I dove into this, we're going to give you examples for both and share how you would use them each.
But it can be a little confusing if you're not aware of this difference.
So I'm really glad we're highlighting it today.
Yeah, let's get into it.
So the first meaning then, tell us about that one.
Yeah, this first one is not at all.
So, for example, if you're talking about kind of a dumpy hotel you're at and you say it's not exactly the Ritz-Carlton, what would that mean, Lindsay?
So you're saying it's the opposite of the Ritz-Carlton here, right?
It's a terrible hotel.
Exactly.
It's the worst.
Not only is it not the Ritz-Carlton, it's the absolute opposite.
You're using this not exactly to share.
It's not at all like it.
Yes.
Or that's not exactly convincing.
Right.
And you're like not convinced at all.
This is how I would say it.
Well, that's not exactly convincing.
Right.
Right.
It's the opposite of convincing.
Or what about friendships and relationships?
Let's have an example there.
Yeah.
You might say we're not exactly friends.
And this could very well mean we're enemies.
We're the opposite of friends.
Like something has happened.
We have a really terrible relationship.
Instead of just saying we're not friends, we might say we're not exactly friends.
Yeah.
When you say that immediately, I think, okay, something has happened in the past.
There's been some kind of blow up or something happened, a riff.
It's not that you don't know the person, right?
You definitely know this person.
It's so different from saying we're not friends.
We don't know each other.
Totally different.
Totally.
Yes.
So it can be used to mean not at all like the total opposite.
But here's where you might get a little tripped up is it also can mean not quite but close.
Right.
In this case, it's not. the total opposite.
So, for example, if someone sort of repeats what they heard you say and it's not quite what you meant, you could say oh, that's not exactly what I meant.
And then you're going to clarify.
And you're not saying, oh, it's the total opposite.
You're saying, oh, not quite, but close.
Oh, yeah.
This is a very interesting observation about this phrase, Aubrey.
I hadn't even thought about that.
But these are two very different meanings for this.
Here's another example.
It's not exactly what I said.
And listen to my intonation there, right?
It's not exactly what I said.
So maybe if someone quotes you and it's different enough that it's changing the meaning, then you might want to say this to make sure there's no misunderstanding or confusion.
Say, oh, okay, well, it's not exactly what I said.
And then you would say what I said was because there's a substantial difference.
Yes.
So totally different meaning.
So let's go into some little, tiny little role plays, and maybe we'll even embellish these a little bit more Aubrey to give our listeners more context here.
Yes.
And we want to share that.
Both of these we use to respond to questions and we use them with both meanings.
So we're going to do a little role play for each to show how, if someone asks you a question, you can respond with not exactly meaning either the first one not at all, Or the second one not quite, but close.
So for this first one, when I look at our role play, I don't know which one I'm supposed to be.
Interesting.
You ask me the question and from the intonation, you'll be able to tell.
Here we go.
Did you get the job?
Not exactly.
Okay.
So that sounds like a very negative response, right?
That's the opposite, right?
Clearly, I'm going to share more details, but I definitely did not get the job.
And I'm going to share, not exactly.
They actually never called me back.
They never called me back.
Or just to give more, what else could come after that?
You could say, not exactly.
I
They ended the interview after 15 minutes and he wouldn't make eye contact with me or things like that.
Exactly.
The evidence of how you know you will not hear back from them.
That's why I think, with not exactly this is a pro tip is that you do want to give a little more detail after, and native speakers will too.
Because even with this same one, if you ask me, did you get the job?
I say, not exactly.
They said they're going to call me back in a week and a half.
That's not quite, but close, where I feel like oh, there's still potential, but I don't exactly have it yet.
Right.
Or not exactly, but they did talk about salary, like they got into the details that would normally come after an offer.
Right.
That means you probably did get the job.
Right.
So you can see how it can mean either depending on the context.
You're going to hear it in the intonation, but usually the speaker will give more details to share why they're saying not exactly.
And then it'll be clear which one they mean.
If they mean like absolutely not the total opposite of that or not quite, but close.
You just have to pay attention.
Let's do another role play with the other meaning.
Okay.
So is this the paint color you wanted?
Not exactly.
I'd prefer a lighter shade.
Okay, so here you did add a little bit more detail and it's clear that we are close.
We're in the neighborhood here, right?
Yes, and same depending on how you answer, right?
If you say, is this the paint color you want?
And I say, not exactly.
I asked for blue and this is green.
And I'm sharing it's the opposite.
It's sarcastic, right?
That not exactly in that second way where it's so different.
It's just using sarcasm, right?
Absolutely.
Okay, Aubrey, what else do we need to know here?
Do we have some substitutes, other things we could say?
Yeah, we wanna share a couple of related phrases.
We use all of these all the time in English.
They're so native and natural, but they, again, there can be some mistakes with them.
So the first one is hardly, which means scarcely or barely.
So with this, we're qualifying a statement that is true, but to an insignificant degree, right?
Right, okay, so for example, we've hardly begun.
Right.
That means we we only were just one minute into the task that we just began.
We've barely begun.
We'll say we've hardly begun.
And this can be a confusing word because it has nothing to do with the meaning of the adjective hard.
Yeah, that's right.
I don't know where that came from, to be honest.
Or you might say they hardly know each other, which means they don't know each other well, right?
They scarcely or barely know each other.
Yeah, maybe they met once in passing, but they really don't know each other.
They hardly know each other.
I hardly know you.
Right.
Yeah, exactly.
And then we also want to share this very related one where we say you're no and then a noun or I'm no.
And there are a couple of fun phrases.
Someone.
If you know.
If you're calling someone old, they might say well, you're no spring chicken yourself, which means like you're not so young yourself.
Right.
You're not exactly young either.
Right.
Would be another way to say that.
They have that's very synonymous.
Right.
These are pretty interchangeable, these meanings.
Right.
Or I'm no expert, but I think we should go with the dark tile.
Right.
So you're saying I'm not exactly an expert, but this is my suggestion.
Yes, exactly.
And you can use that both ways.
Right.
With not exactly.
If you say I'm not exactly an expert, depending on the sarcasm or your tone or what you say after, you might mean I'm not at all.
I don't know anything about this.
Or I might be saying I'm not quite but close.
I do have some experience, but I'm not an expert.
Yeah, I think it could go either way with that, right?
It could go either way, but we have so much more context there.
So it's helpful, right?
I think we should go with the dark file.
Context is good.
Exactly.
So let's do a role play to use all of these.
You can see them in a conversation.
In this role play, Lindsay and I are chatting about a movie we just watched.
Okay, let's do it.
Here we go.
I'm no expert, but I feel like that movie might win a Best Picture award.
Really?
I didn't exactly love it.
It was a bit slow.
Really beautiful cinematography though.
I agree.
With all the mountain climbing, there was hardly a scene that wasn't breathtaking.
What did you like best about it?
I can't exactly put my finger on it.
It was just really well written and moving.
So we used all of them here.
Let's go through and show kind of which meanings these were.
And so first you opened with, I'm no expert, right?
So you're saying I'm not an expert at all.
Yeah, and I could have used the other one to say, I'm not exactly an expert.
Right, right.
Both work there.
And then I said, really, I didn't exactly love it.
So which one did I mean there?
Do I mean the opposite, like I didn't like it at all, or I almost like it?
And this is interesting because where you haven't shared your full opinion yet, it could be either right.
And, depending on your intonation, if you're like I didn't exactly love it, it's going to be more like I didn't like it at all.
Or you might be saying like you know, I liked it all right, but it depends on your intonation and then the rest of the conversation.
And what comes after, right?
If I had said, I didn't exactly love it, but it was... was quite good.
It was quite entertaining.
That's close to liking it or loving it, right?
Yeah.
So yeah, it's interesting how these phrases are all about.
You know you're going to get context.
You're going to hear from the intonation.
And I think it's so good to be aware that there are multiple possibilities of what someone means when they use these.
Yes.
So natural and native.
Then what did I say?
I said, I agree.
And then what else?
You said with all the mountain climbing, there was hardly a scene that wasn't breathtaking.
So this is such an interesting native way instead of just saying every scene was breathtaking.
Yeah.
We're not quite so straightforward.
Sometimes we're a little more whimsical in our language.
Yeah.
Poetic, little poetic.
It's nice.
It's nice to be able to have these options for our listeners, guys, for connection.
Right.
Yes.
And then the last one I said was, I can't exactly put my finger on it.
And this is good to point out that we use this in the negative as well, right?
To say, I cannot, I can't exactly decide what I can't.
Then that looks that idiom that you've learned here before.
On All There's English.
To put my finger on something means I can't quite determine this.
I can't quite decide.
And this is the version where it's close, right?
It's close, but it's not quite there.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
Okay.
These are all so useful.
I use all of these all the time.
It doesn't even feel strange to me to have all of these in one little role play, because we use them so much.
True.
True.
And I like it.
What's a takeaway for our listeners?
What should they keep in mind?
I mean, this is very high level.
Yes, it is very high level.
And really, this is a lot about replacing language that's a little bit more boring.
If all of your sentences are very simple and you just say I'm not this or it's not this, that can get repetitive and is not very interesting.
These options are so much more engaging and add a lot of interest to your conversation.
Yeah, it's not just adding different intonation guys, it's structuring your sentences in a different way, right as much as you can, and that keeps people awake, keeps them engaged and keeps them listening to you and connecting with you.
Yes right, it spices it up, but spices up your vocabulary to say I add exactly this and just add that exactly.
And it's amazing how much interest it adds.
Yeah.
So many options here in the English language.
All right guys.
Go over to allearsenglishcom slash app, download the app and listen over there, because that's where you'll see the transcript, if you're a premium subscriber again, and you'll be able to create that personal power list.
So good.
Awesome.
So fun.
Lindsay, thanks for chatting with me today.
All right.
I'll talk to you soon, Aubrey.
Have a good one.
You too.
Bye.
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