We need to be able to ask what other people think if we want to have natural English conversations and if we want to communicate effectively.
In this lesson, we will cover the most common ways to ask for another person’s opinion in English.
1. Here is the most common question. This question just asks for a person’s general opinion about something.
What do you think about + noun?
- What do you think about this restaurant?
- What do you think about the new marketing strategy?
- What do you think about my new haircut?
- What do you think about nuclear energy?
We can also use a gerund or a noun clause instead of a noun.
- What do you think about moving to New York?
- What do you think about raising taxes to pay for a larger military?
- What do you think about what she said?
- What do you think about what we saw today?
2. We can also use this pattern. This pattern can be used the same as “What do you think…”.
How do you feel about + noun?
- How do you feel about your new job?
- How do you feel about her?
- How do you feel about the education system in your country?
- How do you feel about public transportation in your city?
Again, we can also use a gerund or a noun clause instead of a noun.
- How do you feel about donating money to charity?
- How do you feel about spending money on space travel?
- How do you feel about what she said?
- How do you feel about how the situation was handled?
3. We can also ask for a person’s past opinion.
We can use this for events in the past.
- What did you think about the movie you saw last night?
- How did you feel about the meeting yesterday?
We can also use it to talk about what a person thought in the past. What the person thinks now is different.
A) What did you think about war when you were young?
B) I thought war was terrible when I was young, but now I think that it is necessary sometimes.
A) How did you feel about homework when you were young?
B) I thought that homework was the worst thing in the world when I was young, but now I am a father, so I think homework is very important.
4. We can use yes/no questions to ask a more specific question.
Do you think that…?
Do you feel that…?
- Do you think that our country should build more nuclear power plants?
- Do you think that she should quit her job?
- Do you think that Starbucks is too expensive?
- Do you feel that our education system needs to be reformed?
- Do you feel that taxes are too high?
- Do you feel that people worry too much about the future?
Also, we can ask about past opinions.
- Did you think that the movie was romantic?
- Did you think that she liked me?
- Did you feel that the buffet was not worth it?
5. We can also use short questions to ask a person’s opinion when the person already knows the topic. Here are the questions that we usually use.
- What do you think?
- What do you think about that?
- What is your opinion?
- What is your opinion about that?
- How do you feel about that?
A) I think that this restaurant is good. What do you think?
B) I agree.
A) We think that taxes are too high. What’s your opinion?
B) To be honest, I do not really know.
A) She said that global warming is not caused by man.
B) Really? How do you feel about that?
A) I disagree with her. I think that it is caused by man.
6. We can also yes/no questions that use the words “agree” or “disagree”.
- Do you agree that the company should hire more workers?
- Do you disagree that the country needs to provide free university?
This lesson can help you become a natural English speaker. There are certain situations when the language that you learned in this English lesson can be very useful. Try to use one of these phrases or expressions the next time you speak English.
