Here’s how to improve your English listening skills when listening to my video: put the headphones on, playback the video and write it all down while listening to it!

Hi guys, today I’m bringing you yet another English idiomatic expression, and this time around it’s a super handy sentence starter:

I HEARD SOMEWHERE THAT…

Why am I saying it’s a super handy sentence starter?

Well, the reason behind that is simple enough – it’s a perfect way of starting a conversation with someone about something that you’ve heard somewhere, which is what a lot of conversations are all about!

Let’s say, for argument’s sake, you want to tell your work colleague that there’s way more bacteria on the average mobile phone than on a toilet seat.

In theory, nothing could be easier than that, right?

Just open your mouth and tell him about it!

In reality, what a lot of foreign English speakers will struggle with is – HOW TO START THE DAMN SENTENCE!

One way of going about it would be to simply state the fact: “There’s way more bacteria on the average mobile phone than on a toilet seat”, but in this case you’re really running the risk of sounding a bit awkward.

I mean – who just says something like that out of the blue, right?

So I think that anyone would quite instinctively feel that there’s a need for something to PRECEED the actual statement, and that’s exactly where the phrase

I HEARD SOMEWHERE THAT…

steps in!

You just have to admit that if you address your work colleague this way: “Listen Josh, I HEARD SOMEWHERE THAT there’s way more bacteria on the average mobile phone than on a toilet seat, isn’t that mad?” – it will sound way more native-like, and that’s exactly the way you want to sound!

So, what are you waiting for?

Watch the video above to learn more about using this particular English sentence starter, and by the way – you’ll also learn that there’s a very similar expression:

I READ SOMEWHERE THAT…

which can be used to refer to facts that you would have read somewhere instead of just heard somewhere.

Let me know if you’ve any questions!

Cheers,

Robby