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The English We Speak

from BBC learning English.

com Welcome to the English we speak I'm Neil and I'm Fay Faye

You know what Faye Faye I just love living here in London. I mean the culture the

parks the restaurants it's got everything yeah it's not bad

though to be fair is not the cheapest place to live you're right though most world

capital cities are quite pricey to live in to be fair

Actually to be fair I think there are a lot of reasons to move out of the big city

You know more space better better air, fewer people and nature.

Faye, I think we've given good arguments on both sides to be fair and I hope we've demonstrated today's phrase which is to be fair.

It's a phrase you will hear a lot especially in British English.

It's used when you want to explain more than one side of an issue.

Let's listen to these examples.

We played well in the first half, but to be fair, we were awful in the second half.

Now Luke, we know that wasn't your best exam result, but to be fair you had very little time to prepare.

So it's a phrase that we use to give balance in a discussion and it comes just before or after making a point or giving an opinion.

But these days especially in spoken English people sometimes just use it when giving an opinion, whether or not it's really

about fairness.

Yes, for example, to be fair, the Beatles were the best band of all time.

I think Italian food is the finest there is to be fair.

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