This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 444.
How did you find this episode?
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Hey, Aubrey, what is your favorite restaurant?
Oh, there's a little Mexican restaurant not far from my home called Isabel's Amor that is the that has the best carnitas and really good margaritas oh how did you find it shockingly it's because it's close you would think I discovered it right away but we lived here a year before we found it and some friends told us about it they're like you've been to Isabel's right and I hadn't yeah so it's kind of this this common place people know about but maybe they don't talk about it very much like a best kept secret oh they're trying to keep it from being crowded.
No one wants that because they don't take reservations.
So people don't want there to be a long line.
Sure. So why didn't you tell me what you thought when I asked you, how did you find it?
Aubrey, why didn't you tell me about more about what you thought of the food?
Good question, because that can't in English.
That question can also mean what is your opinion?
How do you find something?
But I never assume that.
First of all, we use it it so much more rarely that way.
So if someone says, how did you find it, especially about a restaurant or location, I'm always going to assume they mean, how did you discover it?
A hundred percent. This is why I'm super excited that this is coming up today.
We've seen this mistake a lot.
Almost every time I have a chance to meet with a student somehow, or maybe email with a student, I will ask, what will I ask them, Aubrey?
What is the common question that I like like to ask.
Yeah, you'll ask, how did you find the podcast?
How did you how did you find Allers English?
Yeah. And what do I usually get as an answer, which I'm not looking for that answer that I get usually.
Right. Students will often say, I love it.
I like it a lot. Right.
They assume you're asking for their opinion about the podcast when what we actually mean is how did you discover it?
Who told you about it?
How did you find it?
And so usually what I do in that case is I just I do rephrase it and I say, how did you discover the podcast?
How did you locate?
Did did someone recommend it to you?
Because I want to know what is the best way to get the word out for the podcast. So we wanted to highlight this common mistake today, Aubrey, for our listeners so they can make this change today.
Absolutely. This is very common in English.
I think often it's coming from translating from your first language, because I think in a lot of languages, we do use the verb find more often to ask for opinions.
How do you find it?
And you've likely heard that you've learned it in a textbook.
It's not grammatically incorrect.
correct. But at least in American English, it's very rare to ask someone their opinion by saying, how did you find it?
How do you find that?
Yeah. So essentially there are two meanings, as you said, for this.
It's the literal and the opinion, right?
So literally it's where or how did you discover it?
Again, like we said, right?
Yeah. So we're going to dive into both of the meanings as well as sort of a bonus related expression so that you guys know.
And yeah, I think this is going to really make a difference if you because you will be asked this anytime you're connecting about favorite restaurants things that you purchased right you'll often be asked this how did you find it and you want to make sure you're answering the right question yeah or coming back with a follow -up question to clarify what do they what are they actually asking me that's why I'm glad we're learning here come across we're employing this phrasal verb come across which is a great way to say that the same thing to find something right aubry exactly right how did you come
across it which that sort of means more accidental often but if you ask someone how they came across something that's still open to like did you see it online did you hear a review did a friend tell you about it there's all kinds of ways to come across something yep yep all right so what do we need to know here all right let's dive first into this literal meaning right so So when someone says, how did you find it, this is most likely what they mean, which is where or how did you discover this?
This could be about an item.
Maybe you have something new that you ordered on Amazon that they've never seen.
It could be about a podcast, a TV show.
If they say, how did you find it?
They're asking, did someone recommend it?
How did you discover it?
Yeah. And there's one caveat that I want to make sure we voice here.
It's possible. What do you think about this aubry is it possible that this is an american english fact but in british english it's more common when they say how did you find it what is your opinion do you think that's very possible right especially where it sounds very formal to me you know oh how did you find the soup to mean like how did you like it right sounds so formal but often british english is quite a bit more formal so that is possible that in other english -speaking countries that's much more common But when it comes to American English, that's usually not what someone means if they
ask how did you find it?
I love it. And what are some of the context clues that we need to look for again?
Yeah, so of course this can be about products locations So if it's something new to them, right and they're curious about it.
The tone will usually be inquisitive That's a huge context clue that they're not asking if you like it or not.
They're asking how you discovered it, right?
They've said something or in their tone, you can hear that it's new and interesting.
If they've said anything like, that's cool.
I've never seen one of those before.
How did you find it?
They don't mean, do you like it?
They mean, how did you discover it?
Right, because we're already kind of assuming you probably like it if you're using it.
There's a bit of that inherent meaning that you do like it already in there.
So it is all about context here, Aubrey.
Exactly, right? So maybe you're using a cool new gadget.
There are other ways to say this, Right.
How did you find this?
How did you discover this?
Did someone tell you about this?
Right. There are lots of ways.
Was it word of mouth?
Did you see an ad for it?
Did you did some influencer tell you about it?
Right. I mean, yeah.
Or for a restaurant.
Right. If they're like this restaurant is amazing.
You're maybe you're there with friends.
The person who initially told you about it.
How did you find it?
How did you find it?
How did you find it?
And if you do want to use the opinion i could see this being viable this restaurant is amazing how did you find it right that's not grammatically incorrect that's asking an opinion that's pivoting to the opinion number two right aubry right um but that's what's really tricky is that is possible it is possible that they're asking how did you like it it is possible but we feel the difference on the intonation right again this restaurant is amazing amazing how did you find it so i think it's amazing what do you you think.
Yeah. So you're emphasizing you a lot more there.
And it's just formal.
Yeah. Yes, absolutely.
But it's true. If you are asking them if they like it or not, you emphasize you.
How did you, especially if you've already shared your opinion, what did you think?
How did you find it?
Whereas if you're asking them how they found it, you emphasize find.
How did you find it?
Right. How did you find this restaurant?
It's so hard to find great, you know, holes in the the wall restaurants, right?
Yes. So let's dive into number two here, because this is possible that someone could be asking your opinion, meaning what did you think of it when they say, how did you find it?
It is possible, maybe 10 % of the time, right?
As we said before, right?
Exactly. And it's interesting to think about because here, if someone's talking about a podcast, for example, because this would be in the past tense, how did you find it?
Right. That's true, too.
Right? Often if you're asking someone's opinion, you would instead say, like, how do you like it?
We don't really use find this way.
We wouldn't say how do you find it, at least not in the States, maybe in England more often.
You're more likely to be asked, what do you think of it, or how do you like it?
Totally. I totally agree with that.
Yeah, 100%. There's grammar here.
There's word choice that can give us the clue of what people are actually asking.
What do you think Think of it, right?
So, again, this is not – of course I want to know what our listeners think of our show when I meet them, but it's not the question I'm usually asking.
It's more important in that moment for me to know how they found it, how they located it, how they heard about it.
Right. We want to know how the word is getting out, right?
Did someone tell you about it?
Did you hear – yeah, we want to know how you found it, how you discovered it.
Yes. What else do we need to know here?
So for this, when someone is asking about your opinion, there are context clues here as well.
Well, when you're going to be asked this question, it will almost always follow a story or an experience and it'll be asked in more of a reflective tone, right?
So if you have told me a story, Lindsay, about visiting Machu Picchu, let's say, and you've told me all these details and then in a very reflective way, I say, oh, interesting.
How did you find it?
Then it would make more sense that I'm not asking like, how did you find out about Machu Picchu?
Those people know about this.
I'm clearly asking, how did you like it?
What did you think about the experience?
Right. And it's also intuitive because people know about Machu Picchu, right?
There's nothing to be found.
Most people know it's a famous wonder of the world, right?
So it makes sense. That's another important context clue, right?
The only time you would say, how did you find it is when it's something you discovered that you didn't always know about.
So that's sort of a given that if it's something that everyone really knows about, then if someone says, how did you find it?
They mean, how did you like it?
How was the experience?
I love it. And then there's a third option that we have, which is how on earth did you find this?
Okay. Tell me about this one.
I love this to add on earth here, right?
It emphasizes how shocked or impressed someone is that you discovered maybe something unusual or hidden.
So for example, I discovered this this Hickaway straw.
It's this little straw.
I think it was on Shark Tank that if you just like suck water through it, it has these holes and it makes hiccups go away.
Miraculous. That's so cool.
Oh my gosh, I need that.
How on earth did you find it?
But I was using it.
Yeah. And a friend said that.
How on earth did you find this?
I was like, I think it was on Shark Tank.
Wow. That's a really cool idea for an investment.
I love that. Yeah. Right.
So how on earth did you find this?
Again, emphasizing emphasizing, that you want to know, again, not the opinion, because she's not asking you what your opinion is of this, right?
Of course, you love it because it works.
And it's so cool. And she can see right there that it works.
She wants to know how you discovered it, how you discovered it.
Exactly. And this is interesting, too.
We'll shorten this phrase to just how on earth, but that is a little different, right?
How on earth did you find this?
How did you discover this interesting thing.
This other chunk, how on earth, is just more like to express surprise in general.
That's more flexible.
You might just like anything you're surprised about.
How on earth? Yeah.
How am I seeing this?
How is this real? How does this work?
What is happening? Exactly.
Yeah. That could be another episode for another day too, Aubrey.
Right. How on earth and other ways we say that.
Hit follow. Make sure you don't miss that follow up.
That would be fine.
Hit the follow button, everyone.
All right. So we're going to take a quick break and we'll come back with an awesome some roleplay for today.
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explore all the possibilities tinder it starts the swipe download tinder today okay Aubrey we're back for our role play here we are discussing software that you told me about alright yeah I didn't know about before all right nice I started using that market research platform you mentioned last week it looks really promising oh great how did you find it was it easy to navigate yeah pretty user -friendly once I got the hang of it the dashboard is really intuitive how How did you find it in the first place?
Oh, I stumbled on it while reading a tech blog.
I really like it. This blog has write -ups on the newest software.
Wow, how on earth did you find that blog?
I've been looking for a resource like that.
Nice. We have them all here.
Yeah, we use both in both ways.
The two key ones in the two different ways.
I love this. In the very beginning, this is interesting because I use it first to ask your opinion about it.
it. But I added, was it easy to navigate?
And I could see myself doing this.
If I say, how did you find it?
Then I would immediately know, they might think I mean, how did you discover it?
So I would add something like this.
How did you find it?
Was it easy to navigate?
Did you enjoy using it?
Yeah, that's a good point.
So you should listen for that context.
People should, native speakers should want to add a bit more context, right?
And be aware of that.
And if you're saying this, if our listeners are saying this, add the context to make it super clear what you're trying to say okay how to avoid that possible misunderstanding because this this question can mean both things yes exactly and then I said yeah it's pretty user friendly once I got the hang of it the dashboard is really intuitive how did you find it in the first place we've got some context here now I'm asking you how you located it right and we have context because I said in the first place originally exactly and we often will use this chunk this way right how did you find it in the first
place cuz now we've already already been talking about it.
We both know about it.
So if you're going to go back and ask them how you discovered it, we'll often add this.
How did you find it in the first place?
Yes, exactly. You don't have to, right?
But we're adding this to give you a little more context because this is a pretty nuanced episode.
Pretty nuanced grammar point here, Aubrey.
Absolutely. And this is where you're asking, how did you discover it, right?
This is the kind of thing where if someone has shared something with you, you know that somehow they discovered it and And you didn't know about it.
So you want to know their source.
You're missing things.
Missing things. Exactly.
You need access to that research or wherever that's coming from.
And then finally I said, wow, how on earth did you find that blog?
I guess these blogs are rare.
Right. But you're like, I've been looking for a resource like that.
So that's more often when we use how on earth, like if you have tried to find some kind of resource and couldn't.
Right. You've been trying to discover something, couldn't find anything and someone else did then.
right? How on earth did you discover that?
I tried. I couldn't find anything.
Yeah. It has a little more emotion, a little more affect in the phrase.
Love it. Wow. I'm really glad we came after this phrase today.
Aubrey, to clear this up for our listeners.
Absolutely. Right. Especially in American English.
I think a pro tip here is nine times out of 10, someone is asking you how you discovered something.
If they say, how did you find it?
Maybe in other English speaking countries, it's more common to be asking your opinion that way.
but if you're speaking with an American English speaker, that's probably what they're asking.
Yeah, and maybe, you know, if this is clearly understood, if you get it and you're ready to go out there and change the usage here, maybe go find a native English speaker from England or from Australia and ask them if the same thing is true for them.
It could definitely be because I could see that being different.
I'm really interested.
Come back and let us know, send us an email to support at allersenglish .com and maybe we can have a part 2 two episodes awesome love that and as always look for context clues listen for intonation context clues because often there are questions like this that do have multiple meanings depending on the context all right good stuff aubrey i'll see you back here very soon have a good day awesome you too see you next time bye bye thank you for listening to business english a podcast just Just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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