This mini episode teaches you how to use the phrase “or so.”
Episode 213 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you how to use the phrase “or so.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello there! This is Dieredieufe Serigne Touba from Senegal, West Africa. You are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 213 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
In this episode, I am going to teach you a very useful two-word phrase. And that two-word phrase is or so. Or so. That’s or: o-r. So: s-o. Or so.
What does or so mean and how do you use it? Or so means “approximately.” It means “about.” We use or so with quantities and amounts, and we use it to mean “This number might not be exact. Maybe I don’t know the exact number. Or maybe the exact number is just not important.”
Let me give you a couple of examples of sentences that use or so.
Last night, she studied French for three hours or so. Last night, she studied French for three hours or so.
This means “Last night, she studied French for about three hours. She studied French for approximately three hours. It was close to three hours. Maybe it was four hours.” Well, it doesn’t really matter. It was around three hours. She studied for three hours or so.
Here is another example of a sentence that uses or so:
They have already released nine episodes or so of that TV program. They have already released nine episodes or so of that TV program.
This means “They have already released about nine episodes. They have already released approximately nine episodes. Maybe I’m not sure of the exact number. Maybe it was seven or eight or ten or eleven. Well, I think it was around nine.” Or maybe the exact number just doesn’t really matter in this conversation. Maybe it’s good enough to have an approximate number. So I could say, “Nine or so. About nine.”
Or so can work in two ways: we can use or so right after the number. For instance, I could say, “Ten or so cookies.” How many cookies? Approximately ten. Ten or so cookies. And we can also use or so after the noun. “Ten cookies or so.” It means the same thing. Or so can go after the number, and it can go after the noun.
And that is or so, a very useful phrase that I think you should know.
Outro
And that’s the end of episode 213 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Dieredieufe recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.