Full video

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hello there

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in case my teeth didn't make it obvious

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i'm british

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and we british people love more than

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anything else to be polite but sometimes

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you want to no

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you need to be rude

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[Music]

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so instead of asking a question politely

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like excuse me i'm sorry can i please

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have a glass of water no

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i want a glass of water

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give me a glass of water that is

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demanding demanding is rude and that is

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the plan here so who are you

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well don't listen to him that

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that is evil ally no

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he's from another universe

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i'll explain later

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let me start this one again okay

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two three and go

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hi

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in case my teeth didn't make it obvious

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i'm british

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[Music]

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so in general when we talk to someone we

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assume that we are interrupting their

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day so usually we start with

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sorry to bother you but

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practice your pronunciation with me

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sorry to bother you but

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[Music]

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i know this is long we are weird i'm

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sorry about that see we do it all the

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time but if we say it and now you say it

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we assume that you're one of us and we

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love you

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today we are going to do polite

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questions

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in progressively more difficult ways

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so let's start easy

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you want to sit there but that's very

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close to this guy always got to respect

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someone's personal space so how can we

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ask i want to sit there

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in a polite way obviously can i sit

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there is fine you can say that there's

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nothing wrong with it but we want to

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make this more polite sue

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do you mind if i sit here do you mind

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means is this a problem for you

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so the answer um that's a problem yes i

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mind or if it's okay of course i don't

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mind do you want to talk about jesus

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yes i mind

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no

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i don't mind

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pronunciation to get a good flow of

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pronunciation and intonation stress

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these two verbs do you mind if i sit

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here

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do you mind if i sit here you say it

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nice you're amazing

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but we could to make it more natural

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sounding

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combine do you to sound like ja

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ja mind say it with me do you mind if i

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sit here

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you're amazing and you're going to do

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great things

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same level of politeness we could say

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is it all right if i sit here you'll

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notice i use glottal t's

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it instead of it

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that's my preference you might be

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different

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is it all right if i sit here

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takes longer sounds a bit less natural

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but it's your choice and pronunciation

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stress on this word and this

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syllable

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right to get that nice flow we want to

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make the whole sentence sound like one

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long word

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and if you're speaking fast

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is it kind of squeezes together to sound

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like zip zill right

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no one really hears that first schwa

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sound it's so quiet like it basically

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doesn't exist

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say all right if i sit here see can't

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hear it try that practice with me is it

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all right if i sit here

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you can do faster it's right if i sit

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here

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you are amazing

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you could also ask a do you mind

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question but make sure the next verb is

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in the in form like

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chrissy do you mind waking up

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now let's change it a bit less direct

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and a bit more polite

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your phone is almost dead so you want to

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use this thing this is called a charger

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would it be okay if the verb is use but

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because this is a second conditional

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structure we need a past

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verb used would it be okay if i use the

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charger practice say it

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you're beautiful now honestly sometimes

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you're gonna hear

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this in a present tense and honestly

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it's fine no one will punch you in the

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face

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if you use a present tense verb in a

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second conditional sentence

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in a test yeah your teacher might punch

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you in the face but in natural

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conversation it's fine and it has

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basically the same level of politeness

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because using wood makes it sound less

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direct

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meaning more polite now we're getting a

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bit more advanced

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you want to know the time

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do you have the time we want to change

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this to a negative statement

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you don't have the time now we need a

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question tag if you're not sure about

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question tags i made a whole video of it

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right there but if you're brilliant at

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question tags you already know

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you don't have the time do you for extra

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politeness points you could add

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by any chance

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this could actually go at the beginning

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it could also go between the auxiliary

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do we have and the main verb

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those are where it sounds the best you

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don't have to time by any chance do you

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see this little thing makes everything

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more polite so practice with me choose

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any variation of this

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and say it

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you're amazing

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i'm so proud of you a different

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structure but still asking for

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information

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you've lost your phone where is it ah my

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friend maybe she knows

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do you know where my phone is

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that's fine but we want to make it more

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polite so

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let's break this down

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you wouldn't happen to is a really

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polite way of asking for information and

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i've made a video explaining this a bit

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more you can click here to watch that

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a negative statement you wouldn't happen

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to know where my phone is

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would you the question tag so this might

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sound crazy long and maybe too polite

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but it's really not this is a very

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common way that we ask questions so

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you need to practice stress

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in these four places don't worry we'll

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go slow first and then speed it up

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you wouldn't happen to know where my

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phone is would you

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great now faster you wouldn't happen to

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know where my phone is would you

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you're doing amazing keep going and

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finally this is way more advanced

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oh my god turn it down it's too loud

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can you turn it down there are so many

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little pieces of politeness that you can

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add to any question to make it sound

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more polite so all of these are optional

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use as many or as few as you like

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we'll start with sorry we'll change can

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for could and remember we'll make it a

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negative statement adding a question tag

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sorry you couldn't turn it down could

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you let's add the word just before the

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verb

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now make it sound like you're not asking

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for much

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so add a bit

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sorry you couldn't just turn it down a

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bit could you

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nice

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test time show me what you've learned

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i'm going to give you some common

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scenarios you have five seconds to say

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out loud an appropriate polite question

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using the structures i've given you so

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if you're not sure watch again if you

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need to after the five seconds don't

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worry if you can't think of one i'll

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give you a perfect example of what you

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could say in that situation if you add

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these to your instagram or tick tock

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make sure you tag me so i can see them

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and repost the best ones are you ready

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let's go

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is that all right if i put my phone on

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charge

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i wonder if they have oat milk ask if

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they have oat milk

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sorry you don't have oat milk do you

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ah

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um

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ask if you can use the toilet

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sorry would it be okay if i use the

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toilet

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ask them to open a window because you

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are hot

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sorry you couldn't just open the window

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a bit could you boiling

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um

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ask them where the tube is

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sorry you wouldn't happen to know where

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the tube is would you

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congratulations now you're a

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professional polite person now go out

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there and oh no he's back

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you just pushed me through a portal into

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another dimension that is so

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rude

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i like it

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ah just get my ebook to remember these

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lessons faster and way better no don't

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buy my book it's awful you'll hate it

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i'll see you in the next class i'll hear

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you in the next class what just

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bye hello well that doesn't even make

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sense

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[Music]