To be fair

Neil Welcome to The English We Speak: I’m Neil.

Feifei And I’m Feifei.

Neil You know what, Feifei, I just love living here in London. I mean, the culture, the parks, the restaurants - it’s got everything.

Feifei Yeah, it’s not bad, though to be fair it’s not the cheapest place to live.

Neil You’re right. Though most world capital cities are quite pricey to live in, to be fair.

Feifei Actually, to be fair, I think there are a lot of reasons to move out of the big city - you know, more space, better air, fewer people, and… nature!

Neil Feifei, 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.

Feifei It’s a phrase you’ll hear a lot, especially in British English. It’s used when you want to explain more than one side of an issue.

Neil Let’s listen to these examples:

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.

Neil 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.

Feifei But these days, especially in spoken English, people sometimes just use it when giving an opinion - whether or not it’s really about fairness.

Neil Yes, for example: To be fair, The Beatles were the best band of all time.

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

Neil So be careful when listening out for this phrase - sometimes it’s just a ‘filler’ phrase, something people say a lot with no real meaning. It might not always mean what you expect it to!

Feifei To be fair, that’s why we make these programmes - to help people understand real English.

Neil And they are some of the best English learning materials available, to be fair.

Feifei Though, to be fair, other programmes are available!

Neil Bye for now.

Feifei Bye.