In this post, I’d like to share with your some common expressions we have of giving one’sopinion. I have used Liz Potter’s excellent article for Macmillan Dictionary’s blog as the mainstructure and made some changes to it.

　　1. I think

　　This is the most common and general way of giving an opinion. You can use it bothinformally and formally

　　· I think if you offer a consistently good service to your clients, they will keep coming backto you.

　　2. I reckon

　　This is a more informal way of giving your opinion:

　　·I reckon it will be much faster to get to London by train.

　　3. In my opinion (4) In my view:

　　These expressions are more formal and are often used when talking about important issues

　　·In my view, they made a huge mistake in not selling the company when they had thechance.

　　·In my opinion, the Bank of England should not raise interest rates this year.

　　5. It seems to me (6) All things considered:

　　When you’ve thought about a situation carefully you could use either of these twoexpressions

　　·It seems to me that they are spending more money than they need to to attract new talentinto the company.

　　·All things considered, I think we made a wise choice in recruiting James.

　　7. If you ask me

　　This is used when your opinion is critical. Sometimes, people say this even when theiropinion hasn’t been asked for! – “If you ask me,…..” “But I didn’t ask you….!”

　　·If you ask me, she has spoilt her children far too much.

　　8. To be honest (9) To tell you the truth (10) To be frank

　　All three expressions are a way of giving your opinion when you know that people may notlike what you have to say

　　·To tell you the truth, your father was right when he said that you undersold the company.

　　·To be honest, I preferred it when you were blonde.

　　·To be frank, I thought her acting was simply terrible.

　　11. Personally

　　This is used to emphasize that you are giving your own opinion

　　·Personally, I think the CEO should apologize for his appalling behaviour at theshareholders’ meeting.

　　12. To my mind (13) As far as I’m concerned

　　When you realise that other people may not agree with you you would use either of theseexpressions:

　　·To my mind, private education is better than state education.

　　·As far as I’m concerned, tennis is a much more interesting sport than football.

　　So there you have it! You have 14 ways to give your opinion in English. Which expressionsare you likely to use?